Israeli Court Upholds Rape Conviction of Ex-President

Moshe Katsav, center, the former president of Israel, left the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on Thursday after it rejected an appeal of his rape conviction and sentence.  

The court’s decision sealed a long and sordid episode that began while Mr. Katsav was still president, a distinguished,Belstaff if mostly ceremonial, position that he held from 2000 to 2007.

Mr. Katsav, 65, was convicted in a district court in December of raping an employee — who has been identified only by her first initial, A. — on two occasions while he was minister of tourism in 1998. The court also convicted him of sexually abusing and harassing another woman and of harassing a third while he was head of state. In March,Belstaff italia he was sentenced to seven years in prison.

After the Supreme Court issued its verdict,Moncler outlet lawyers for the prosecution said it had sent a clear message that Israel upholds the principle of equality before the law. One of the prosecutors, Nisim Marom, said that it would also encourage victims of rape “to come forward and press charges.”

Mr. Katsav has always maintained his innocence, and his defense team insisted that his accuser had lied. They argued that Mr. Katsav had been demonized by the news media and by leaks and statements from public figures, preventing a fair trial.

But the three-judge panel, after long deliberations,Moncler spaccio found unanimously on Thursday that it saw no reason to intervene in the conviction or the sentence passed down by the district court since both were well considered and appropriate.

While the Katsav case bolstered public pride in the country’s legal system, it also brought the prestige of the post of president to a low.

“A deep sadness descends on the State of Israel when it is determined that a person who served as a government minister, a deputy prime minister and president perpetrated acts such as those,” the judges wrote in their ruling. “It is a most difficult spectacle to see a man who was once the country’s symbol of state going to jail.”

Mr. Katsav resigned from the presidency in disgrace two weeks before his term was to end, amid a public uproar over a deal he had reached with state prosecutors. Under the agreement, the rape charges were to have been dropped in exchange for an admission of guilt to lesser offenses, and Mr. Katsav was not to serve any time in jail. But during a court hearing in April 2008, Mr. Katsav unexpectedly backed out of the plea agreement, saying that he preferred to fight to prove his innocence.

After the ruling on Thursday, a lawyer for Mr. Katsav, Avigdor Feldman, said that the Supreme Court had taken the concept of credibility to the maximum, meaning that once an Israeli court had deemed the testimony of a rape complainant as credible there was little hope of another court ruling otherwise.

“The concept of credibility hinges on the court’s intuition, and I have little faith in it,” he added.

Mr. Feldman said that the defense team would study Thursday’s ruling and then consider whether to seek another hearing before a different Supreme Court panel. Another lawyer for the defense, Zion Amir, told Israel Radio that the chances were remote that the Supreme Court would agree to another hearing.

6 Answers to Common Cold Questions

1. How long can I use a nasal spray for a stuffy nose?

Two to 3 days. Over-the-counter sprays containing phenylephrine (Neo-Synephrine) or oxymetazoline (Afrin, Dristan) shrink swollen blood vessels in the lining of your nose, allowing trapped mucus to drain. The good thing about the sprays is that they work almost instantaneously, and they won’t keep you awake at night or cause other side effects typical of oral decongestants. The downside is that, after 3 to 5 days, they can cause rebound congestion — the more you use them, the faster your nose gets stuffed up again after each spray, leading you to use more and more. To avoid this problem, some experts recommend using a spray for no more than 2 to 3 days at a time. Then stop for 3 days. If you’re still congested, it’s okay to use it again for 2 to 3 days.Trillium Parka
2. Every time I renew my efforts to go to the gym, I seem to catch a cold. Is it all in my head?

You may be on to something. Intense exercise can decrease levels of infection-fighting white blood cells in your body temporarily and boost levels of stress hormones that may interfere with your immune system’s ability to fight off cold viruses. Coupled with the possibility that you’re picking up germs from gym equipment or in the locker room, your workouts might very well be making you sick.Canada Goose

That doesn’t mean that all exercise opens the door to colds. In fact, a consistent, medium-intensity routine is a proven cold-stopper. Taking a brisk, 40-minute walk 4 days a week, for example, can cut the number of colds you experience by 25 to 50 percent and can make the colds you do catch shorter by half, studies show. Moderate exercise boosts the number and activity level of important immune-system players called natural killer cells.
3. How do I know if it’s a cold or the flu?

Take your temperature and assess how you feel. If you have influenza, you will likely have a temperature (101°F or higher) and terrible headache, feel achy all over, and be incredibly tired. It’s rare to have a significant fever with a cold. The primary symptoms of a cold are a stuffy and/or runny nose, cough, and sore throat, which rarely occur with the flu. While you may feel tired if you have a cold, with the flu, you probably won’t be able to get out of bed.Canada Goose Jackor
4. Is there really a wrong way to blow your nose?

Mom was right about this one. Vigorous honking really is counterproductive for two reasons. First, it triggers "reflex nasal congestion" — your nasal passages swell up temporarily, which traps mucus. Second, full-force nose blowing creates a vacuum deep in your sinus passages; once you stop blowing, mucus gets sucked backward, deeper into your sinuses. A better way to blow: With a tissue over both nostrils, close one side and gently blow the other for 3 to 5 seconds. Switch sides. It may take several blows, but it works.Expedition Parka
5. If I have a runny nose from a cold, am I better off drying it up or letting it go?

Go ahead and make yourself comfortable. Congestion and a runny nose are side effects of your body’s efforts to fight off the viral infections that cause colds and flu. Reversing them with a decongestant won’t slow down healing and may in fact help you avoid complications like a sinus infection.

To clear your nose, decongestants containing pseudoephedrine are more effective than those containing phenylephrine. A British study of 283 women and men with stuffy noses found that those who took 60 milligrams of pseudoephedrine reported a 30 percent drop in congestion after just one dose.