By JOANNA PARASZCZUK
The Supreme Court is set to announce the verdict in Moshe Katsav’s final appeal on Thursday, almost a year after the former head of state was convicted of two counts of rape, two counts of sexual harassment, an indecent act using force and obstruction of justice.The panel of justices – Miriam Naor, Edna Arbel and Salim Joubran – will announce their decision at 9 a.m., following three months of deliberations after hearing Katsav’s appeal in August.Although the Tel Aviv District Court sentenced Katsav to seven years in prison, Supreme Court Justice Yoram Danziger agreed in May to a request by Katsav’s defense lawyers to postpone his punishment until after his appeal process.Unless the Supreme Court overturns the lower court’s verdict and sentence on Thursday, Katsav will begin that prison term. However, should the court uphold the guilty verdict and sentence, his lawyers are expected to request a further postponement of several weeks, and it is not expected that the former president would be taken to prison from the court.
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