Katsav: System set out to frame me

Katsav's address followed the State Prosecutor's Office's decision to file rape charges against him in the case of complainant A. from the Tourism Ministry. 

The decision, announced by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz and State Prosecutor Moshe Lador on Sunday, stated that the future indictment will include – besides the rape charge – several count of forceful indecent act and obstruction of justice; as well as  various sexual harassment charges pertaining to a number of female employees who worked alongside Katsav over the years, both in the Tourism Ministry and during his tenure as president.

• For full coverage of the Katsav case click here
  

Katsav was supposed to sign a plea bargain in the case in April of 2007, but decided to renege on it in the last minute. The State then pulled the original indictment, criticized by many as being too lenient, and has been working on an amended indictment since.

"Please do not let their prejudices overtake common sense and decency," he appealed to the public. "In my term as president I upheld every letter of the law."  

"I have kept quiet for two years so as not to be blamed for obstruction of justice and because I had hoped the authorities would come to their senses, but they were and continue to be relentless.

'History will rule in my favor'

"My blood has been shed daily by the attorney general, the State Prosecutor's Office, the police, politicians and journalists. For 32 months my rights and my honor have been trampled, and the lynching will not stop.

"I stand here," he continued, "And I am forced to reveal astounding details about the way the authorities of this country conduct themselves. Everything is documented. I have been the subject of an unprecedented field-trial by the media… the system has set out to frame me no matter what the cost, even if it meant breaking the law."

History will rule in my favor, he asserted, turning his attention to the attorney general: "Mazuz has taken it upon himself to be both judge and executioner. The rope he would hang me with is his own salvation… The legal onslaught against me was a hysterical eruption of hatred and malice and it included witness tampering, coaching and coercion, all in order to frame the president of Israel."

The former president went on to accuse Mazuz of misleading the Supreme Court on numerous occasions, as well as of ordering a special police investigative team be assigned to his case without merit. He also admonished the State Prosecutor's Office for rendering him powerless to defend himself, saying that while his name "was dragged through the mud in the local and international media," the complainants' anonymity remained intact, since the State refused – and still refuses – to lift the gag order placed on their identity.

"I expected legalists and scholars to protest the trampling of my rights, of the truth and of due process, to protest this injustice, but no one stepped forward to defend the values they themselves preach," he said, noting repeatedly that Mazuz pursued the criminal charges against him contrary to the opinion and recommendation of senior staff members in the State Prosecutor's Office.

"No one has ever filed any charges against me," he reiterated, referring to the women mentioned in the case file; further adding that the case was riddled with contaminated evidence and was based on "nothing but malicious gossip and unfounded rumors."

Shortly after the speech Katsav's media consultants, Motti Morel and Ronen Zur, announced that they would be resigning their post, citing  irreconcilable differences pertaining to the press conference. "We believe in his innocence and we wish him a full acquittal," they said.