Israel's Tel Aviv District Court on Tuesday sentenced former President Moshe Katzav to seven years in jail and two years probation for rape and a host of other sexual crimes.

Katzav, the highest-ranking Israeli official ever sent to jail, maintains he is innocent.

The historic ruling is expected to conclude a scandal that erupted over four years ago, when several women who were subordinate to Katzav first approached the police and filed complaints of falling victim to rape, molestation and indecent sexual acts.

Katzav assumed the presidency in 2000. Seven years later, he was forced to announce his resignation in disgrace. He was the first in that capacity in Israeli history to stand trial and then convicted of sexual crimes.

The affair could have ended in 2007, had Katzav not willingly chosen to reject a plea bargain offer which promised that the most severe charges would be dropped and he would be given a suspended sentence. Instead, he opted to take the case to court to prove his innocence.

In a fiery two-hour televised press conference in January 2007, the former president lashed out at the Israeli media, accusing it of conducting an ethnically-motivated campaign against him from the moment he had assumed the presidency after defeating Noble Peace Prize winner and veteran Israeli politician Shimon Peres.

On December 30, 2010, Katzav was convicted of two counts of rape and sexual harassment of former female employees who were subordinate to him during his tenures as tourism minister and later as president.

Israel's criminal code for the offense of rape carries a penalty of four to 16 years' incarceration.

Katzav, 65, was born in Iran and immigrated to Israel with his family at the age of six. He was raised in Kiryat Malachi, a destitute town in southern Israel that he still calls home. Following his discharge from the Israel Defense Forces, he enrolled at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and graduated with a degree in economics and history. At the age of 24 he was appointed to head Kiryat Malachi's local council. Prior to entering politics, he had worked, among other things, as a bank teller and a journalist.

His political career in the Likud party was often cited as a source of inspiration for children of underprivileged Jewish immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa.

In the course of the legal proceedings, which were launched in March 2009, Katzav harshly criticized then-Attorney General Menahem Mazuz, who accepted the findings of the police investigation and filed an indictment against him on charges of rape and sexual molestation.

In the 2007 televised appearance, he had also slammed the State Prosecutor's Office for not lifting a media gag order on the identities of the plaintiffs, saying it hampered him from effectively defending himself in light of their severe accusations.

His victims, known by the initials A., L. and H., enjoyed the massive support of Israeli women's right groups throughout the trial. And the court's rulings are considered by many Israelis as a proof for justice of the country's legal system.

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