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| In Strauss-Kahn Trial, France Shatters a Privacy Taboo | |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| PARIS — As the trial of Dominique Strauss-Kahn comes to a close on Friday, some here are breathing a sigh of relief after cringing, gasping and giggling uncomfortably for weeks while the sexual proclivities of the man once thought likely to become France’s president were paraded before the world. | |
| Others lamented the ending of a case that had shined a rare spotlight on a chauvinistic culture where highflying, powerful men can misbehave with impunity. | Others lamented the ending of a case that had shined a rare spotlight on a chauvinistic culture where highflying, powerful men can misbehave with impunity. |
| Though it is widely expected that Mr. Strauss-Kahn will be acquitted — the prosecutor himself requested this week that pimping charges against him be dropped — the case is nevertheless seen as having crossed a threshold in a country where the privacy of public figures has long been considered sacrosanct. After weeks in which Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s self-described “rough” sexuality was dissected in the courtroom and cafes across the nation, a taboo has been broken, some argued, that may now make the personal life of almost any politician fair game. | Though it is widely expected that Mr. Strauss-Kahn will be acquitted — the prosecutor himself requested this week that pimping charges against him be dropped — the case is nevertheless seen as having crossed a threshold in a country where the privacy of public figures has long been considered sacrosanct. After weeks in which Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s self-described “rough” sexuality was dissected in the courtroom and cafes across the nation, a taboo has been broken, some argued, that may now make the personal life of almost any politician fair game. |
| “With DSK, we have entered a new phase,” Michel Taubmann, a biographer of Mr. Strauss-Kahn, said, citing the May 2011 episode at a Sofitel hotel in New York, where the former head of the International Monetary Fund was accused of assaulting a housekeeper, as the starting point. | “With DSK, we have entered a new phase,” Michel Taubmann, a biographer of Mr. Strauss-Kahn, said, citing the May 2011 episode at a Sofitel hotel in New York, where the former head of the International Monetary Fund was accused of assaulting a housekeeper, as the starting point. |
| “Before the affair in New York, everyone knew that DSK had a controversial private life, but as long as he wasn’t accused of a crime, no one had the right to talk about it,” Mr. Taubmann said. “Now there is no hesitation to look through the keyhole at the private lives of public figures. But unlike in the United States, it is not because of moralizing. The French are not so easily shocked.” | “Before the affair in New York, everyone knew that DSK had a controversial private life, but as long as he wasn’t accused of a crime, no one had the right to talk about it,” Mr. Taubmann said. “Now there is no hesitation to look through the keyhole at the private lives of public figures. But unlike in the United States, it is not because of moralizing. The French are not so easily shocked.” |
| Rather, he noted, the French are still more likely to be scandalized by a minister who evades taxes than one who sleeps with a prostitute. | Rather, he noted, the French are still more likely to be scandalized by a minister who evades taxes than one who sleeps with a prostitute. |
| Indeed, in France, Clintonesque mea culpas about sexual indiscretions have long been considered unnecessary, even undignified — and Mr. Strauss-Kahn made no apologies for his sex life. | Indeed, in France, Clintonesque mea culpas about sexual indiscretions have long been considered unnecessary, even undignified — and Mr. Strauss-Kahn made no apologies for his sex life. |
| “I am starting to get a little fed up,” he said at one point in response to the persistent questioning of his sexual conduct at the orgies he attended. “There are no charges weighed against me that focus on my sexual behavior,” he added, noting that he was not on trial for “deviant sexual practices.” | “I am starting to get a little fed up,” he said at one point in response to the persistent questioning of his sexual conduct at the orgies he attended. “There are no charges weighed against me that focus on my sexual behavior,” he added, noting that he was not on trial for “deviant sexual practices.” |
| Still, the country was treated to a level of detailed testimony on sexual indiscretion that surely surpassed what President Bill Clinton was made to endure over the liaison that eventually led to his impeachment in 1998. | Still, the country was treated to a level of detailed testimony on sexual indiscretion that surely surpassed what President Bill Clinton was made to endure over the liaison that eventually led to his impeachment in 1998. |
| If nothing else, the Strauss-Kahn case has revealed the limits of what even the famously libertine French will tolerate from their leaders. For many, Mr. Strauss-Kahn had gone too far. | If nothing else, the Strauss-Kahn case has revealed the limits of what even the famously libertine French will tolerate from their leaders. For many, Mr. Strauss-Kahn had gone too far. |
| “There is little doubt that Mr. Strauss-Kahn is now politically dead,” said Chloé Triomphe, legal correspondent for the radio broadcaster Europe 1, who has closely covered the case. “But while many people feel that DSK behaved like a pig, they also think he is a very able and competent economist, and still has a role to play. It is a very French reaction.” | “There is little doubt that Mr. Strauss-Kahn is now politically dead,” said Chloé Triomphe, legal correspondent for the radio broadcaster Europe 1, who has closely covered the case. “But while many people feel that DSK behaved like a pig, they also think he is a very able and competent economist, and still has a role to play. It is a very French reaction.” |
| Mr. Strauss-Kahn, 65, stands accused, along with 13 other defendants, of abetting prostitution. During a three-week trial in Lille, in northern France, that featured a sex club owner nicknamed Dodo, a former police chief and several prostitutes, magistrates tried to prove that he had used cronies to hire prostitutes for elaborate sex parties in Lille, Paris and Washington. | Mr. Strauss-Kahn, 65, stands accused, along with 13 other defendants, of abetting prostitution. During a three-week trial in Lille, in northern France, that featured a sex club owner nicknamed Dodo, a former police chief and several prostitutes, magistrates tried to prove that he had used cronies to hire prostitutes for elaborate sex parties in Lille, Paris and Washington. |
| If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison and fines of more than 1.5 million euros, or $1.7 million. But most legal experts say that Mr. Strauss-Kahn will be acquitted after five of the six plaintiffs in the case against him dropped their accusations this week, citing lack of evidence. A verdict is expected in the spring. | |
| “This was not a Mafia network that was dismantled,” the prosecutor, Frédéric Fèvre, told the court this week, rather a group of friends trying to “satisfy egos, ambitions and quite simply, physical desires.” | “This was not a Mafia network that was dismantled,” the prosecutor, Frédéric Fèvre, told the court this week, rather a group of friends trying to “satisfy egos, ambitions and quite simply, physical desires.” |
| But even as the chief judge insisted from the outset that the court was not an arbiter of public morality, Mr. Strauss-Kahn was grilled on questions like his seeming penchant for sodomy described by two prostitutes at the trial and the circumstances that led to a prostitute photographing herself in his office at the I.M.F. in Washington. He was also forced to explain text messages in which he referred to women as “equipment.” | |
| The trial marked a final disgrace but also a public catharsis of sorts for Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who was forced to endure a so-called perp walk in New York and then resign as head of the I.M.F. in 2011 after the hotel housekeeper leveled her accusations. Those charges were dropped. Buffeted by scandals, Mr. Strauss-Kahn was ostracized from politics. He divorced his glamorous wife. A close business associate committed suicide. | The trial marked a final disgrace but also a public catharsis of sorts for Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who was forced to endure a so-called perp walk in New York and then resign as head of the I.M.F. in 2011 after the hotel housekeeper leveled her accusations. Those charges were dropped. Buffeted by scandals, Mr. Strauss-Kahn was ostracized from politics. He divorced his glamorous wife. A close business associate committed suicide. |
| But in the Lille court, Mr. Strauss-Kahn, a man who had lost so much, seemed a man with nothing left to lose. Mr. Strauss-Kahn discussed his sexual predilections with the matter-of-fact demeanor of a banker describing macroeconomic policy. | But in the Lille court, Mr. Strauss-Kahn, a man who had lost so much, seemed a man with nothing left to lose. Mr. Strauss-Kahn discussed his sexual predilections with the matter-of-fact demeanor of a banker describing macroeconomic policy. |
| Mr. Strauss-Kahn lost his cool only after a lawyer for one of the prostitutes insisted that Mr. Strauss-Kahn must have known she was a prostitute since he had brutally sodomized her. “I must have a sexuality, which, compared to the average man, is more rough,” he told the court, adding that it was “absurd” to conclude that this required him to turn to prostitutes. | Mr. Strauss-Kahn lost his cool only after a lawyer for one of the prostitutes insisted that Mr. Strauss-Kahn must have known she was a prostitute since he had brutally sodomized her. “I must have a sexuality, which, compared to the average man, is more rough,” he told the court, adding that it was “absurd” to conclude that this required him to turn to prostitutes. |
| He insisted that he did not know some of the women were prostitutes, and that sexual ardor was no crime. In France, paying a prostitute is not illegal, but soliciting or supplying a prostitute is. | He insisted that he did not know some of the women were prostitutes, and that sexual ardor was no crime. In France, paying a prostitute is not illegal, but soliciting or supplying a prostitute is. |
| For all his humiliation, Mr. Strauss-Kahn retains some currency with the French. According to a poll of 1,008 people age 18 or older by Odoxa undertaken ahead of the trial for Le Parisien, 79 percent of those polled thought Mr. Strauss-Kahn would have been a better president than the current one, François Hollande. | For all his humiliation, Mr. Strauss-Kahn retains some currency with the French. According to a poll of 1,008 people age 18 or older by Odoxa undertaken ahead of the trial for Le Parisien, 79 percent of those polled thought Mr. Strauss-Kahn would have been a better president than the current one, François Hollande. |
| Mr. Hollande himself had his personal life put on display, when a gossip magazine broke news that he was having an affair with an actress, Julie Gayet. | Mr. Hollande himself had his personal life put on display, when a gossip magazine broke news that he was having an affair with an actress, Julie Gayet. |
| Though most French remain blasé about Mr. Hollande’s affair, that has not stopped gossip magazines from investigating his personal life. Recently, the media and opposition politicians raised questions after Ms. Gayet was seen with a presidential bodyguard, provoking criticism that she appeared to be receiving security paid for by the public, though she is not the first lady. | |
| In the case of Mr. Strauss-Kahn, the interest in his private life was ultimately more than just an appetite for prurient spectacle, those who have followed the trial closely said. | In the case of Mr. Strauss-Kahn, the interest in his private life was ultimately more than just an appetite for prurient spectacle, those who have followed the trial closely said. |
| It was not the bacchanalian scenes of libertinage pored over in a Lille courtroom that appeared to offend French sensibilities, but rather the lack of judgment and recklessness of a powerful man, who believed that he was invincible. | It was not the bacchanalian scenes of libertinage pored over in a Lille courtroom that appeared to offend French sensibilities, but rather the lack of judgment and recklessness of a powerful man, who believed that he was invincible. |
| “His was a huge downfall,” said Mr. Taubmann, the biographer. “A man who was once on the cover of Newsweek for saving the international financial system found himself, first in Rikers, and now in a Lille court, alongside a pimp. Can he be a new man, a better man? Anything is possible.” | “His was a huge downfall,” said Mr. Taubmann, the biographer. “A man who was once on the cover of Newsweek for saving the international financial system found himself, first in Rikers, and now in a Lille court, alongside a pimp. Can he be a new man, a better man? Anything is possible.” |