The former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn is freed from house arrest but his sexual assault case will continue after speculation that it could collapse. Channel 4 News gauges reaction from France.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s bail conditions have been eased after a hearing at New York’s Supreme Court, but sexual assault charges – relating to the alleged attack of a maid in Strauss-Kahn’s luxury Manhattan hotel room in May – will remain.
The court agreed to let Strauss-Kahn be freed and his bail and bond returned. He agreed to return to court as needed, including for an 18 July hearing.
“I understand that the circumstances of this case have changed substantially and I agree the risk that he would not be here has receded quite a bit. I release Mr. Strauss-Kahn at his own recognizance,” Justice Michael Obus told the court.
Leaving court his lawyer said the lifting of his house arrest was a “great relief” and that he will pursue a dismissal of all charges against his client, including accusations of attempted rape, sexual assault, and sexual abuse.
The lawyer for the maid told reporters outside court that “the victim from day one described a violent sexual assault. … She has never once changed a single thing about that account. The District Attorney knows that. That was true the day it happened. That was true today,”
Recalling graphic details of the alleged assault, lawyer Kenneth Thompson said that his client was extremely distressed at what he called a ‘smear campaign’ aimed at discrediting her.
“The victim here may have made some mistakes, but that doesn’t mean she’s not a rape victim,” Mr Thompson said.
It comes after a report in the New York Times based on interviews with two unnamed law enforcement officials who cast doubt on the credibility of the maid.
The New York Times’ sources said that “major holes” had been found in the case, and that prosecutors believed the 32-year-old woman had lied repeatedly about her background.
Although the sexual nature of the encounter between the French politician and the maid has been revealed by forensic tests, there was speculation that the case could collapse altogether.
Read more: Strauss Khan claims 'attack' on maid was consensual.
Earlier, Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers, Benjamin Brafman and William W Taylor III, made it clear that they would make the credibility of the woman a focus of their case.
But in the weeks after making her accusations, the woman, who arrived in the United States from Guinea in 2002, was described by relatives and colleagues as a hard-working mother with good character and no criminal record.
She told the authorities that she had gone to Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s suite to clean it and that he emerged naked from the bathroom and attacked her. The formal charges accused him of ripping her underwear, trying to rape her and forcing her to perform oral sex; his lawyers say that any sex was consensual.
Christian Roudaut, a Radio France journalist specialising in politics and social commentary, told Channel 4 News that reaction to the news has been mixed.
“It has been an amazing story. This morning people were amazed at the prospect that the case might collapse and that Strauss-Kahn might make one of the greatest political comebacks in history, but I think people have been brought back down to earth now,” Roudauc said.
“I think that although the French people believe he is innocent until proven guilty, this has damaged his reputation, and I think it is very unlikely that he will keep his presidential ambitions even if he is cleared, but of course with such a story as this you never know,” he continued.
Strauss-Kahn’s supporters, among them party leader Martine Aubry, have vigorously defended Kahn.
Aubry, who announced she will run for president herself said: “I hope the American justice system will establish the whole truth and allow Dominique to emerge from this nightmare.”
Earlier, the Socialist MP Jean-Marie Le Guen, a firm ally of Strauss-Kahn, expressed his “immense joy” at the New York Times report, saying it was “the end of the nightmare” for the former head of the International Monetary Fund who would now “be present in the presidential campaign.”
The father-of-four spent four days in New York’s Rikers Island jail before he was released on $1 million bail and placed under house arrest.
Mr Strauss-Khan denies charges of a criminal sexual act, attempted rape, sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment, and forcible touching. He faces upto 25 years in prison if convicted.