Strauss-Kahn tells court he was unaware women at orgies were prostitutes
Disgraced former International Monetary Fund boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn, known as "DSK", told a court yesterday that he was unaware that the women who participated in orgies that were held at luxury hotels in Paris and Washington were prostitutes.
Disgraced former International Monetary Fund boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn, known as "DSK", told a court yesterday that he was unaware that the women who participated in orgies that were held at luxury hotels in Paris and Washington were prostitutes.
"I committed no crime, no offence," Strauss-Kahn said in a letter read out to the court by the judge in the French city of Lille.
He also said from the witness stand that the sex parties he attended were few and far between, and that there was none of the "wild activity" of which he is accused.
The 65-year-old Strauss-Kahn and 13 co-defendants are on trial in this northern French city, accused of aggravated pimping in connection with a sex ring centred on the Hotel Carlton in Lille.
In his first testimony since the trial began on February 2, Strauss-Kahn reaffirmed his long-standing defence that he ignored the "prostitutional character" of the women who took part in his orgies.
Strauss-Kahn's arrival at the courthouse was disrupted by three topless protesters from the provocative group Femen, who were detained by police. Strauss-Kahn's chances of becoming French president were ruined over an unrelated sex scandal in New York.
The economist faces up to 10 years in prison and a €1.5 million (HK$13.17 million) fine if convicted. Strauss-Kahn and the 13 other defendants accused of operating the prostitution ring out of luxury hotels in Paris, Washington, Lille and Brussels.
The court has so far heard testimony from some of Strauss-Kahn's fellow defendants, who include a Belgian brothel owner, local businessmen, a police officer and hotel staff accused of organising sex parties for Strauss-Kahn's benefit. Investigators have compiled hundreds of pages of testimony from the prostitutes describing the orgies.
It's not illegal to pay for sex in France, but it's against the law to solicit or to run a prostitution business. Prostitutes questioned in the case said that between 2009 and 2011 - when the IMF chief was dealing with a global financial crisis - Strauss-Kahn was organising orgies at hotels in Paris, at a restaurant there and also in Washington.
The trial is the latest in a series of cases offering a peek behind the bedroom door of a man once tipped as a potential challenger to former French president Nicolas Sarkozy. France was stunned when it saw Strauss-Kahn hndcuffed in New York in May 2011.
