A former Israeli justice minister has proposed pardoning an ex-president convicted of rape - rankling women's rights advocates but raising new questions over what kind of punishment is appropriate for a onetime head of state.
The former minister, Yossi Beilin, says Moshe Katsav's public humiliation is enough of a punishment and would serve as a powerful deterrent to other officials. He reasons that it is not in the public interest to see a former symbol of the state behind bars.
Katsav's conviction last week has brought nearly unanimous scorn for the disgraced politician and wall-to-wall praise for a legal system that proved itself egalitarian by bringing him to justice. But Beilin and others have begun questioning the wisdom of prison time.
"He obviously deserves a heavy punishment, but the question is whether we also deserve that punishment when the country is being portrayed all over the world as a country whose president is like this," Beilin, the former leader of the dovish Meretz Party, told Israel's Army Radio on Wednesday.
"I think the real punishment for Moshe Katsav is not to be separated from society but rather to remain on his street, to look into the eyes of those close to him, to look into the eyes of his grandchildren and to know that everyone knows the truth."
Women's rights advocates quickly criticized the proposal.
"A rapist's place is in prison," said former lawmaker Zahava Gal-On.
A pardon would have to come from Katsav's successor as president, Shimon Peres, whose office has refused to discuss the possibility.
Last week, a Tel Aviv court ruled that Katsav twice raped a woman who worked for him when he served as tourism minister in the 1990s, and assaulted and harassed two other women who worked for him when he was president, from 2000 to 2007. The scathing ruling called him "manipulative" and said his testimony was riddled with lies. He faces between four to 16 years in prison.
Katsav attorney Zion Amir said he would announce whether he intends to appeal the verdict after sentencing, which is expected within two months. Amir said Katsav and his team would not make any other comments before the sentencing.
Experts seem to agree that a successful appeal is highly unlikely.
Israel's Supreme Court traditionally only overturns convictions based on the interpretation of the law. It usually does not challenge the factual findings of lower courts that heard testimonies and questioned witnesses.
Emanuel Gross, a criminal law professor at Haifa University, said the court "is not willing to intervene in any way whenever it gets to fact finding."
The ruling, reached after 18 months of closed door hearings, has been perceived locally as a victory for the Israeli legal system and women's rights. But it was also striking in its categorical language, despite the lack of physical evidence and the apparent reliance on testimony, from the victims and from other witnesses who testified to similar behavior.
"The harsh (ruling) on Katsav as it appears in the summary looks too definitive. It consistently favors the versions of the women who complained, and essentially makes a mockery of every claim by Katsav and his lawyers," wrote legal analyst Zeev Segal in the Haaretz newspaper.
He called for the testimonies to be made public, enabling people to understand better why the judges chose one account over the other. The public summary of the verdict was "too short, lacked detailed explanations and was filled with decisive assertions," Segal said.
Israeli rape trials routinely are conducted behind close doors.
Katsav's legal troubles began late in his presidency when he complained in 2006 that a female employee was trying to blackmail him. The woman went to police with her side of the story, detailing a series of alleged sexual assaults. Other women then came forward with other complaints.
He resigned a year later, two weeks before his seven-year term expired. Katsav has alleged he was a victim of a political witch hunt, and his legal team says the public climate against him influenced the judges' ruling.
Prosecutors initially agreed to a plea bargain that would have required him to admit to lesser charges of sexual misconduct and kept him out of jail. But Katsav rejected the plea bargain at the last minute in 2008 and vowed to clear his name in court.
At the time, prosecutors said they offered the plea because they thought the evidence might not suffice for a conviction.
Law professor Uriel Procaccia said that raises questions over how the final verdict was so definitive.
In light of the uncertainty, Procaccia wrote, "I find it hard to join the chorus celebrating (Katsav's) disgrace and cheering his conviction."
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