Four years after the case regarding alleged sexual crimes committed at the Sofitel Hotel in New York City, Dominique Strauss-Kahn appeared again today in the opening of another trial — this one on charges of aggravated procuring alleged to have taken place at the Carlton Hotel. The former director of IMF, who is accused of having participated in naughty parties in Lille, Paris and Washington between 2008 and 2011 denied knowledge of the professional status of the girls. The hearing began today at 2 p.m. local time.
One of Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers, Richard Malka, who defended Strauss-Kahn in earlier investigations, said that the law does not necessarily condemn immoral acts.
Apparently, the young women were recruited in Belgian brothels, whose owner, Dominique Alderweireld, was arrested on Oct. 1 for pimping, and is further suspected of having employed undocumented minors.
One of them recounts that a man came to her home to “ensure that she could match the type of woman who could be presented to Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Another girl said that DSK was aware that they were all paid each time, and that she had told Strauss-Kahn so.
“If this man believed that he could not know the quality of the girls, he really wants to make us believe that he is naive and take us for idiots, the second girl, called Jade, said at a hearing. All these girls were good-looking, young, completely designed to meet his desires.
Eric Dupond-Moretti, one of the lawyers for the accused, denounced the extension of “customer to pimp.” If we want to penalize the customer in France, which does. There are countries where the customer is penalized, but not France, said Dupond-Moretti. “I think they want to destroy DSK.”
Dominique Strauss-Kahn faces up to 10 years in prison and 1.5 million euros in fines.
By Esther Hervy