Strauss-Kahn's 'prostitution ring' trial begins

Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Photo / Getty Images

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, once tipped to become the next president of France, went on trial yesterday accused of being at the centre of a vice ring that hired prostitutes for orgies in which up to eight women had sex with the disgraced politician in scenes of "carnage".

Four years after a New York sex scandal that shattered his political ambitions and cost him his job as head of the International Monetary Fund, 65-year-old Strauss-Kahn was back in the media glare as he arrived in a black limousine at a court in the northern French city of Lille.

He appeared on edge as he sat, arms folded, while Bernard Lemaire, the presiding judge, read out the charges against him and 13 co-accused, a colourful cast of characters including luxury hotel managers, a lawyer, a former police commissioner, and a brothel owner nicknamed "Dodo the Pimp".

"You are accused of aiding and abetting the prostitution of seven persons between March 29, 2008, and October 4, 2011, and of hiring and encouraging the prostitution of these same persons," the judge said.

Procedural applications, such as a request by a lawyer for the former prostitutes involved for hearings to take place behind closed doors, dominated the first day of the trial.

Strauss-Kahn faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 1.5 million ($2.4 million) if convicted of organising the orgies in Paris, Washington and Lille that have been dubbed "carnage on a pile of mattresses".

One of the prostitutes questioned during the investigation described walking in on one of the orgies.

"I was shocked. I didn't want to get involved in this carnage," Sandrine Vandenschrik told police, according to judicial documents.

She described a scene at the Murano hotel in Paris in March 2009, when she entered a room to see Strauss-Kahn being "taken care of" by seven or eight women.

Strauss-Kahn's high-flying career as the head of the IMF came crashing down in May 2011 when Nafissatou Diallo, a chambermaid at a New York hotel, accused him of sexual assault.

After his arrest and brief stay in Rikers Island prison, criminal charges were dropped and the case settled in a civil suit for an undisclosed sum, reported to be 950,000 ($1,980,000). But he was soon embroiled in the prostitution allegations back home.

Strauss-Kahn, who denies all charges, is not expected to take the stand until next week.

DSK's defence

During the trial the judge must decide whether Dominique Strauss-Kahn was merely a "libertine" who took part in orgies organised by his entourage in Lille, as well as Paris and Washington, or whether he was aware the women participating were paid prostitutes and also helped to organise the orgies. Under French law, any action which furthers prostitution can be considered as pimping. Strauss-Kahn's lawyers have argued that he had no idea who the women he was dealing with were because "they were all naked at the time". He thought that they were willing participants at wife-swapping parties. But investigating magistrates contend that their age and appearance "left little doubt as to their activities", and that Strauss-Kahn was not just the "king of the party" but a "linchpin" of a prostitution ring. If this was a wife-swapping party, prostitute Sandrine Vandenschrik asked, where were all the other partners?

- Independent