Ex-president Katsav receives Passover prison furlough

Ex-president Moshe Katsav on Monday was granted prison furlough for 72 hours during the Passover holiday.

The former president, in the fourth year of his seven-year sentence for sexual offenses, will be released to his Kiryat Malachi home next Friday for the first days of the Jewish holiday.

Katsav is serving a sentence for rape, sexual assault and harassment of a number of female employees while tourism minister and president.

Under Israeli law, prisoners are granted periodic breaks if they serve over a quarter of their prison sentence with no disturbances, participate in a rehabilitation workshop, and are found not to be a danger to the public.

Last year, the Lod District Court rejected Katsav’s request for a 24-hour prison furlough for the Passover Seder. In the ruling, the judge maintained that inmates cannot take two vacations within a 60-day span, and since the former president was released for 42 hours for Purim, he would not be permitted to return home for the holiday the following week.

“I do not accept his request since his petition does not constitute ‘special circumstances’ and his concerns are no different from any other Jewish observant inmate,” Judge Avraham Tal wrote in the decision.

Tal said that granting him leave would “damage the principle of equality, especially with regard to other Jewish prisoners,” and insisted Katsav was aware of this law before he took his Purim vacation.

In addition to Katsav’s Purim release last year, the former president was granted leave in 2012 for his son’s wedding, returned to his hometown of Kiryat Malachi for 24 hours in September 2013, and in October attended his grandson’s wedding.