Parole board delays decision on freeing ex-president Katsav

An Israel Prisons Service parole board, which was expected Sunday to give a decision on the early release of former president and convicted rapist Moshe Katsav, pushed off its ruling. The parole board said it would give its final decision on Wednesday.

Initial reports said that the delay came after the Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority notified the board that it was prepared to build a rehabilitation plan for Katsav, a key development in his favor as a condition for early release. However, the PRA clarified that it had not withdrawn its demand that Katsav first express regret and admit guilt for his crimes, something he has thus far refused to do.

The board spent 11 hours last Sunday reviewing Katsav’s case at a hearing during which the ex-president, at times in tears, pleaded with its members to shave off one-third of his seven-year sentence.

According to Channel 2, Katsav has told his close friends that he was “not especially optimistic” that he would be granted early release.

Katsav began serving his sentence in December 2011 after he was convicted on two counts of rape and sexual assault. He has so far served four years and four months.

At the parole board hearing last Sunday, Katsav continued to maintain his innocence, as he has throughout his trial and prison term.

A representative of the Justice Ministry attended the hearing to express the ministry’s opposition to Katsav’s early release.

Katsav had not proven “he was worthy of an early release,” primarily due to his ongoing refusal to accept the court’s verdict and take responsibility for his crimes. He has also refused to undergo rehabilitation programs in the prison, the state representative noted.

Last week’s hearing was expected to produce a decision, but board members asked to delay the decision until this week. The parole board has until April 22 to deliver its ruling.

The parole request has triggered a firestorm of criticism, including from lawmakers and at least one of the former president’s victims.

Katsav, 70, was convicted on December 30, 2010, on two counts of rape, among other sexual offenses. He is slated for release in December 2018, but if he wins parole, will walk out of the minimum-security Ma’asiyahu Prison in Ramle by July.

If he goes free, “it would be unprecedented in Israel, and would send a very negative message, both about women and about sex offenders,” Odelia Karmon, who was assaulted by Katsav in the early 1990s, told Army Radio last week.

Karmon worked with the former president when he served as transportation minister from 1988 to 1992.

Early parole is very common in the Israeli prison system, with a majority of prisoners managing to obtain the standard one-third reduction to their sentence for good behavior. In Katsav’s case, the parole board will have to determine whether he constitutes a danger to the public and meets the “good behavior” requirements.

The Prisons Service says his behavior as a prisoner has been above reproach.

If Katsav is denied his request, his last recourse would be to appeal for a pardon by President Reuven Rivlin. The two are former Likud colleagues who served in the Knesset together for years before Katsav won the presidency.

The case has sparked a debate about convicted political leaders, with those opposed to the parole insisting that Katsav’s stature as a former president makes it all the more important that his sentence not be shortened.