DSK Paris attack claims probed
Source: Agencies |
July 9, 2011, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Paris prosecutor's office said yesterday it has opened a preliminary investigation into accusations by a French writer that former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her.
The probe comes just as New York prosecutors are weighing whether or not to go ahead with a case in which a chambermaid accused Strauss-Kahn - long considered a top contender for France's presidency - of sexual assault. Questions have surfaced about the maid's credibility.
Back in France, novelist and journalist Tristane Banon filed a criminal complaint this week saying that Strauss-Kahn attacked her in an empty apartment in 2003 during an interview for a book project, struggling with her on the floor as he tried to tear off her clothes.
An official in the Paris prosecutor's office said yesterday that a preliminary investigation has been opened into the complaint.
The probe allows investigators from a special police brigade to question Banon and those close to her about the eight-year-old incident.
It could also allow French investigators to question Strauss-Kahn, though most likely not unless and until he returns to France. New York authorities have kept his passport pending a decision on what happens in the case there.
Strauss-Kahn quit as head of the International Monetary Fund after he was arrested in New York in May based on accusations of assault made by a hotel maid. Strauss-Kahn denies wrongdoing, and last week he was released without bail after prosecutors said publicly that the maid has a history of lying.
Questions have also surfaced about the viability of the French accusation.
Banon made no official report after the alleged attack, and Banon's lawyer has not described any physical evidence that could be brought against Strauss-Kahn.
Banon said she took the action to deal with the trauma of the alleged incident.
Strauss-Kahn's lawyers have called the incident "imaginary."
The investigation could take months.
The probe comes just as New York prosecutors are weighing whether or not to go ahead with a case in which a chambermaid accused Strauss-Kahn - long considered a top contender for France's presidency - of sexual assault. Questions have surfaced about the maid's credibility.
Back in France, novelist and journalist Tristane Banon filed a criminal complaint this week saying that Strauss-Kahn attacked her in an empty apartment in 2003 during an interview for a book project, struggling with her on the floor as he tried to tear off her clothes.
An official in the Paris prosecutor's office said yesterday that a preliminary investigation has been opened into the complaint.
The probe allows investigators from a special police brigade to question Banon and those close to her about the eight-year-old incident.
It could also allow French investigators to question Strauss-Kahn, though most likely not unless and until he returns to France. New York authorities have kept his passport pending a decision on what happens in the case there.
Strauss-Kahn quit as head of the International Monetary Fund after he was arrested in New York in May based on accusations of assault made by a hotel maid. Strauss-Kahn denies wrongdoing, and last week he was released without bail after prosecutors said publicly that the maid has a history of lying.
Questions have also surfaced about the viability of the French accusation.
Banon made no official report after the alleged attack, and Banon's lawyer has not described any physical evidence that could be brought against Strauss-Kahn.
Banon said she took the action to deal with the trauma of the alleged incident.
Strauss-Kahn's lawyers have called the incident "imaginary."
The investigation could take months.
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