FORMER ISRAELI president Moshe Katsav testified yesterday for the first time, denying charges against him of rape and sexual harassment.
His 5½-hour testimony was given behind closed doors at Tel Aviv district court and no details were released for publication.
Mr Katsav (64), a father of five, will take the stand again tomorrow.
Over the past few months the court has heard testimony from a number of women who claimed to have been sexually assaulted by the former president.
Mr Katsav was forced to step down as president in June 2007.
He was charged with two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault against a woman referred to as Tourism Ministry A between 1996 and 1999, during the period when he served as Israel’s minister of tourism.
According to the indictment, in April 1998, following an event in Tel Aviv, the defendant returned with A to the office claiming he had forgotten something there, and raped her.
“I don’t remember how I found myself on the floor. He came and lay over me and I pushed him,” A told the police.
Two months later at a Jerusalem hotel, Mr Katsav told A, “Relax, you’ll enjoy it”, and forced himself on her as she struggled against him.
He was also accused of sexual harassment by his secretary at the president’s office, and of indecent assault and sexual harassment against another woman who worked with him during his presidential term, as well as harassing a witness.
The former president denies all the charges against him.
In 2008 Mr Katsav cancelled the plea bargain offered to his lawyers by Israel’s attorney general, declaring that he would stand trial to prove his innocence.
Mr Katsav claimed to be the victim of a political witch-hunt.
He attacked the establishment and the Israeli media for “leading a brainwashing campaign” to bring about his downfall.
Mr Katsav, who faces a maximum sentence of 16 years in prison, has hired some of the top lawyers in the country to clear his name.