The Katsav conviction would never have stood up in a British court of law. There were no rape kits, no semen or DNA proof, no physical evidence such as Katsav's hair or clothing, no professionals like doctors or police sex crimes experts, and no rape victims testifying in open court. Instead they remained unidentified in a closed court, their testimony being full of holes; no victim went to the police after being raped, one having being allegedly raped in Katsav's office, and then raped by him again in his hotel room long after, the police opening the investigation years after the alleged crimes allegedly took place etc etc.
Katsav claimed that he was being framed and turned down a simple way out of jail, by resigning the Presidency after confessing to some minor charges. He rejected the deal and chose to be exonerated in court. No one guilty would take this route. Who really wanted Katsav out of the Presidency? "In the generation before the Moshiach the high offices will become bordellos!" (Mishna Sotah 9)
One thing we can't forgive Katsav for is his support of Oslo and the Hitnatkut, contrary to what the Lubavitcher Rebbe warned him.
Katsav may yet redeem himself if in the next month before he goes in the slammer he really rocks the Israeli TBTB and reveals to the press the secrets he knows about Peres, but in which case he'll quickly be silenced by a 'heart attack' or a 'suicide'!