Israeli president goes 'from No 1 citizen to convicted sex offender'

Moshe Katsav, Israel's president, has signed a plea bargain that will force him to resign but includes no rape charges and entails no jail time, Meni Mazuz, Israel's attorney-general, said. In the space of a year, Katsav has sunk from being "Israel's number one citizen to a convicted sex offender," Mazuz said on Thursday at a news conference.

Israel's high-level officials, including the prime minister, have been increasingly implicated in scandals. Thursday's unexpected deal, which included three lesser charges, brought the five-month case to an abrupt end.

Accusations against Katsav first surfaced a year ago, and eventually spread to include four women who formerly worked with him in the president's office and earlier when he was tourism minister. In January, Mazuz announced he planned to indict Katsav on charges of rape and lesser counts of sexual misconduct. But he allowed Katsav's attorneys to appear before him at a hearing in May to plead their case, as is customary practice with senior officials. At that two-part hearing, new evidence was presented, he told the news conference, but did not give further details. The attorney-general said many of the allegations expired under Israel's statue of limitations

Tens of thousands of Israelis have protested against the dropping of a rape charge against Moshe Katsav, the country's former head of state. About 20,000 people flocked to Rabin Square in Tel Aviv late on Saturday to demand that a plea bargain entered by Katsav in a sexual abuse case be rejected.

Prosecutors have decided to delay charging Katsav on the lesser counts of indecent acts, sexual harassment and obstruction of justice after the supreme court agreed to hear a legal challenge to the plea deal.

His resignation from the presidency took effect on Sunday clearing the way for his immediate indictment.

Meni Mazuz, Israeli's attorney general, had originally plan to press rape and sex assault charges that could have sent Katsav to jail for 20 years.

Four women have accused the former president of sex offences. "There's no such thing as rape lite,'' read one of the posters hoisted by the crowd, which included leading female politicians.

Justice demanded

Yael Dayan, a former politician and prominent Israeli women's rights advocate, said: "We are asking to hear the evidence. We don't demand mercy, we demand justice. "We are calling on the courts to have the courage not to approve the deal.''