Dominique Strauss-Kahn appears at Lille court for start of pimping trial

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/02/dominique-strauss-kahn-lille-court-pimping-trail

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Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, has appeared in court in Lille charged with aiding and assisting the prostitution of seven women.

Dressed in a black suit, Strauss-Kahn sat, arms folded, in the front row of the courtroom, alongside 13 others, 12 of whom also face pimping charges, including a former senior police chief and two businessmen alleged to have provided the one-time presidential hopeful with prostitutes for orgies in Europe and the US.

Strauss-Kahn stood, hands clasped, to hear the charge against him – “aggravated pimping”, described as aiding and abetting prostitution, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The case threatens to expose the double-life of Strauss-Kahn, once tipped to be the next Socialist president of France, but now a political pariah. The case against him is that, while head of the IMF in Washington, he had group-sex with prostitutes brought to him in Europe and the US, organised by French businessmen friends who wanted to curry favour with him.

The inquiry by two investigative judges who brought the case to trial had heard from several prostitutes and referenced over 15 “soirées” between 2009 and 2011 in which Strauss-Kahn was described as the instigator and “king of the party”, and where he allegedly had multiple encounters with numerous women in scenes described by some witnesses as brutal “carnage” or “slaughter”. The investigative judges’ court petition argued that, because of the type of events and sexual practises, Strauss-Kahn could not have been unaware that the women were paid.

Strauss-Kahn has admitted he took part in group sex but has denied knowing that women at the orgies were prostitutes. He has strongly denied pimping charges.

Henri Leclerc, Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer, told the court his client was “calm and confident”, keen for the trial to take place, that “justice be done” and for him to be acquitted.

The case, which is known as the Hotel Carlton affair began in 2011 when police investigated the head of public relations at the hotel in the northern French city of Lille, who was believed to have procured prostitutes for friends and clients. During the investigation into a possible prostitution ring at the Hotel Carlton, prostitutes began mentioning the name Strauss-Kahn at other soirées outside Lille and the inquiry was widened to the procuring of women for the IMF chief. Those in the dock included two businessmen and a senior police-chief accused of organising orgies of prostitutes for Strauss-Kahn, travelling to Paris and Washington with them and taking part. Also facing charges of supplying women to Strauss-Kahn is a man known as Dodo the Pimp, owner of brothels in Belgium.

During a pause in the proceedings, Strauss-Kahn chatted to Fabrice Paszkowski, a businessman friend who is alleged to have procured prostitutes, paid them and travelled with them to engage in orgies with the ex-IMF chief.

A lawyer for four prostitutes who testified to the inquiry asked the judges to hold the hearings in private, closed to the public, arguing that the women had found giving evidence traumatic. The judges rejected the demand, meaning all of the three-week trial will be open to journalists. Strauss-Kahn is to testify next week.

The trial comes four years after Strauss-Kahn was arrested in New York in 2011 over the alleged attempted rape of a hotel worker, Nafissatou Diallo. Criminal charges against Strauss-Kahn in the Diallo case were dropped by prosecutors, and he later settled a civil action with the woman.