New Sexual Assault Allegations Against Dominique Strauss-Kahn

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Dominique Strauss-Kahn, center, departs a New York Police Department precinct on his way to Manhattan Criminal Court in New York late Sunday. Getty ImagesUpdated: No bail, details end of article.

RedTracker| More allegations about the sexual behavior of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn are emerging. The man with a good chance of replacing French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been picked out of the lineup by his accuser and submitted to a DNA test at the Manhattan Special Victims Unit in East Harlem.

On Sunday, he was charged with a ‘criminal sexual act, unlawful imprisonment and attempted rape’.

Question of Immunity

There is forensic evidence in the case, although the details are not released. The BBC writes that in submitting to the DNA testing, Strauss-Kahn has tacitly waved his immunity. Then the article says that he can still claim it in the future, and the fact that he was in the US on a private visit is immaterial.

As the head of one of the UN’s specialised agencies, the IMF managing director is just as immune from prosecution as any diplomat, says Jovan Kurbalija, director of DiploFoundation, a Geneva-based organisation researching the role of diplomacy in the modern age.

Furthermore, unlike a diplomat - who is immune from prosecution only in the country where he or she is based - the head of a UN agency is immune from prosecution in all countries.

There is a big difference between the head of the IMF, and its rank-and-file members, who are immune from prosecution only with regard to “acts performed… in their official capacity”.

Mr Strauss-Kahn was visited on Saturday by the French consul general.  Le Monde reports that an unnamed official says any immunity was a matter for the IMF and the US. ‘To me, there is no immunity,’ the official said. ‘His Frenchness is not at stake.’

The NYPD says the IMF head does not have immunity.

New Allegations

New York Magazine writes that the 62-year-old diplomat — called both ‘The Great Seducer’ and ‘Hot Rabbit’ — is facing accusations from his own Socialist party.

Anne Mansouret, a local official, says Strauss-Kahn attacked her daughter, French TV reporter Tristane Banon, when she interviewed him in 2002. Banon, who was then in her twenties and goddaughter to Strauss-Kahn’s second wife, was trying to interview the diplomat for a book she was writing. She spoke about the sexual attack on TV in 2007, describing Strauss-Kahn as a “rutting chimpanzee,” but his name was bleeped out.

In the TV segment Banon alleges that she was forced to fight him off during the attack:

“It finished badly … very violently … I kicked him,” Banon said. “When we were fighting, I mentioned the word ‘rape’ to make him afraid, but it didn’t have any effect. I managed to get out.”

After consulting an attorney, Mansouret said last night that she helped persuade her daughter not to file charges because she felt the behavior was out of character for Strauss-Kahn, close family ties, and also ‘I didn’t want to be known to the end of my days as the girl who had a problem with the politician.’

Yesterday Mansouret said that she bears a ‘heavy responsibility’ and she has apologized for not pursuing her own family’s case.

Today’s WSJ writes that the break came in the fast-moving case when Mr Strauss-Kahn called the hotel to ask about leaving his cell phone.

A hotel security official fibbed and said he did have the phone—then asked for Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s location to meet him and return it. Police made the arrest at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, where Mr. Strauss-Kahn had boarded a flight for France.

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