"His incarceration conditions are set to improve after several leaves. He will be able to visit his house once a month for a 72-hour stretch and will not have to be on house arrest." That's better than miluim!! Katzav is the classic example of the stiff-necked arrogant type who didn't admit responsibility for his actions, thereby screwing himself. He could have signed a bargain plea and stayed at home instead, and everyone would have already forgotten about it all.

I don't understand why prisoners get vacations from prison - especially one who has expressed no remorse for his deeds. I even remember hearing that hundreds have never returned after their vacations and the police don't have the manpower to look for them.

former US Congressman Jim Trafficant would not request a pardon but served a sentence for crimes he was innocent of. It is a grievous thing to depart from HaShem's ways and the judgments of that are cleansing and remedial.

If he was guilty, he would have certainly signed the plea bargain. That's exactly what Mazuz, Olmert and Peres were hoping. The problem is that Katsav is innocent.

We do not release murderers and in exchange he can have Katsav.

Do the other prisoners get to take a leave? Why is this criminal allowed leave and the right to go to synagogue? That is really showing everyone that Israel does not treat everyone the same.

Yes, they all get vacations after serving 1/3 of their sentence. Only in Israel.

He should hang his head in shame for what he did as president if Israel. What a vile creep he is.

My family lived next door to one of the women supposedly raped by Katsav. She, and her entirely family, were completely nuts. Their children beat our 5 year old child and his friend so they could steal his cat. Luckily the friend of our son had a few older brothers who ran around the neighborhood until they found these kids with the cat before they could do the cat any real harm. These loonies called the police more than once and told crazy stories about us and other neighbors. One time they called the police to complain when a child's toy sitting in a box was making some sound from the balcony. They told the police that the neighbors, including us, were harassing them on purpose with this "noise" just to annoy them. It was a stupid kid's toy that probably started making noise from the wind or a stray cat, but they insisted it was a vast conspiracy to harass them. When we told the police these are just crazy people, (which took the police about 30 seconds to figure out on their own), they told the police, "oh yeah, well they beat their child". I though they were also going to tell them we caused the potato famine in Ireland and 9/11 as well. Bottom line, we personally heard these people tell ridiculous stories to the police on more than one occasion. At the time, we had no idea who they were, until a gentleman that lived in our building told us to stay away from them and who they were in this Katsav story. (This was a nice, dignified and distinguished man, not some nut. He only told us to warn us because he witnessed their craziness for years). Anything is possible, but knowing this family, I have very big doubts about this case.

How can the media show his face, this guy is a rapist -a disgraced official- a shameless man. how can this guy even be released from prison.

Mr Katszv is an INNOCENT man .He was falsely accused and framed and set up.He would never in a million years do the things he was wronly accused of doing.