New York: Prosecutors Monday asked New York state Judge Michael Obus to drop all charges against former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn for sexual assault and attempted rape.
“Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has denied the right of a woman to get justice in a rape case,” the attorney of alleged victim Nafissatou Diallo, Kenneth Thompson, said upon leaving a meeting with prosecutors.
“He has not only turned his back on this innocent victim but all of the forensic, medical and other physical evidence in this case,” Thompson said of Vance.
Diallo’s lawyer had earlier asked the judge to remove Vance from the case, accusing the DA of mishandling the prosecution and undermining the credibility of the alleged victim.
Strauss-Kahn, a veteran French politician, is due in court Tuesday to learn the future of a case that seems to have run out of steam.
“We have maintained from the beginning of this case that our client is innocent,” defense attorneys William Taylor and Benjamin Brafman said in a statement. The decision to drop the charges was revealed minutes after a brief meeting Monday afternoon of authorities handling the case with Diallo, a 32-year-old Guinean immigrant. (IANS)
Strauss-Kahn, 62, was arrested May 14 at New York’s JFK Airport as he was leaving for Paris, after the hotel maid accused him of sexually assaulting her inside his suite at the Sofitel hotel near Times Square.
He quickly stepped down as managing director of the International Monetary Fund and the accusation appeared to destroy his hopes of winning France’s 2012 presidential election. (IANS)