France struggles to digest unfolding scandal of I.M.F. chief ; His defenders speculate about entrapment as U.S. judge denies bail

STEVEN ERLANGER; KATRIN BENNHOLD; JOHN ELIGON
International Herald Tribune
05-18-2011
France struggles to digest unfolding scandal of I.M.F. chief ; His defenders speculate about entrapment as U.S. judge denies bail
Byline: STEVEN ERLANGER; KATRIN BENNHOLD; JOHN ELIGON
Type: News

As the case unfolded in New York, shock at the arrest of the I.M.F. chief on sexual assault charges has turned among some to distress over facets of the U.S. court system.

French shock at the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sexual assault charges has turned among some to suspicion and anger, with his defenders questioning the initial New York police account and speculating about entrapment, and many others characterizing news photos of the handcuffed suspect as insulting and unfair.
Some of Mr. Strauss-Kahn's supporters raised questions about the U.S. handling of the case and hinted at a role by his French political opponents.

On Monday, a judge in a New York courtroom ordered Mr. Strauss- Kahn, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, held without bail over allegations that he sexually assaulted a maid Saturday at a Midtown Manhattan hotel. He was taken to the Rikers Island jail, where he was to be held in protective custody in a single-person cell.

The French blogosphere and news outlets, especially on the Internet, were busy trying to dissect Mr. Strauss-Kahn's day Saturday, before he boarded the plane at John F. Kennedy International Airport, where the police detained him. Citing unidentified allies of Mr. Strauss-Kahn, they suggested that he had lunch with his daughter before boarding the plane to make a flight that had been reserved in advance; that he may have checked out of his hotel before lunch with his daughter; and that he may have had lunch after the alleged attack was said to have taken place.

In other words, they suggested, he did not flee in haste, as the police had said in their comments on the case.

The Socialist politician Jean-Christophe Cambadelis, a close ally of Mr. Strauss-Kahn, said: "In the file, there are a lot of contradictions beginning with the escape, which was acknowledged today didn't happen."

Another question raised was about the timing of the flood of Twitter posts around the scandal, with the first one reportedly sent by a French student who is a member of President Nicolas Sarkozy's center-right party. Twenty-four minutes later, a post by Arnaud Dassier, who ran Mr. Sarkozy's online election campaign in 2007, spread the news further, apparently before any New York newspaper.

Others said that a setup seemed even more implausible. Bradley D. Simon, a former U.S. prosecutor turned criminal defense lawyer with offices in New York and Paris, thought the idea "far-fetched" and said, "The only way there can be a setup in the first place is that there is an acknowledgement that he is predisposed to such actions."

Or as Liberation, normally sympathetic to the left, concluded in an editorial Monday: "Dominique Strauss-Kahn knew that he was his own worst enemy."

But there was also outrage about the photos of Mr. Strauss-Kahn cuffed in custody. While the so-called perp walk is a police tradition, allowing the news media to get photographs of a suspect, a 2000 law in France tries to reinforce the principle of the presumption of innocence by criminalizing the publication of photos of an identifiable person in handcuffs who has not yet been convicted.

The former French justice minister whose name is on the law, Elisabeth Guigou, said she found the photos of Mr. Strauss-Kahn in cuffs indicative of "a brutality, a violence, of an incredible cruelty, and I'm happy that we don't have the same judiciary system."

On Tuesday, the opposition Socialists, who had been widely expected to choose Mr. Strauss-Kahn as their presidential candidate against Mr. Sarkozy, planned to debate their plans for the future. But the party leader, Martine Aubry, declined to say whether she would contest the presidential primary when the deadline for nominations expires in July. "We have a timetable, and today is not the moment," she told France Info radio. "We are not changing anything in our timetable." She also said Mr. Strauss-Kahn must be seen as innocent unless proved not to be.

The denial of bail was a striking defeat for Mr. Strauss-Kahn, whom many had seen as a leading contender to become the next president of France. Prosecutors had asked the Criminal Court judge, Melissa C. Jackson, to remand Mr. Strauss-Kahn, 62, saying that he was a flight risk. They also indicated that he may have been involved in a similar episode outside the United States.

"Some of this information includes reports he has in fact engaged in conduct similar to the conduct alleged in this complaint on at least one other occasion," said Artie McConnell, an assistant district attorney, who added that the other claim was still being investigated.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn did not enter a plea during the proceeding, nor did he speak.

The criminal complaint says that Mr. Strauss-Kahn shut the door to his suite in the Sofitel New York and prevented the housekeeper from leaving, grabbing her breasts, trying to pull down her pantyhose and grabbing her crotch.

Early indications, Mr. McConnell said, were that forensic evidence supported "the victim's version of events."

Benjamin Brafman, one of Mr. Strauss-Kahn's lawyers, argued that "this is a very, very defensible case. He should be entitled to bail." He suggested that it be set at $1 million and said that Mr. Strauss-Kahn's wife, Anne Sinclair, would provide the money.

The defense team already has found significant issues with the case, Mr. Brafman said, though he did not elaborate. Nor did he suggest that Mr. Strauss-Kahn was a victim of a setup.

Mr. Brafman added that although his client was arrested on an Air France plane that was about to take off, he was not trying to flee. He said that Mr. Strauss-Kahn's travel plans had been set for some time, and he indicated that there was evidence that between the time of the alleged attack and his flight, Mr. Strauss-Kahn was in the area of the hotel, taking care of other business.

He also said that his client had attended a lunch meeting after the time the housekeeper had given for the attack, and that his lunch partner would be able to testify. In addition, he said, the hotel staff found out he was at the airport only after he volunteered where he was.

The charges against Mr. Strauss-Kahn include various counts of sexual assault, including attempted rape, sexual abuse and criminal sexual act. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted and is due back in court Friday, when he is likely to learn whether the grand jury has handed down an indictment.

Interest in the details of Mr. Strauss-Kahn's case is seemingly bottomless. For example, questions arose as to how he came to stay in a $3,000-a-night suite at the Sofitel and fly first-class on Air France. On Monday, William Murray, a spokesman for the International Monetary Fund, said that Mr. Strauss-Kahn had paid $525 for the room, according to a Travelocity reservation receipt provided by Mr. Strauss-Kahn's office.

Copyright International Herald Tribune May 18, 2011