Post date: May 17, 2011 5:59:9 PM
A French writer, Tristane Banon, who is considering filing a legal complaint over an alleged sexual incident involving Dominique Strauss-Kahn in 2002 meets her lawyer in Paris on Tuesday.
PARIS, FRANCE (MAY 17, 2011) REUTERS - A French writer who is considering filing a legal complaint over an alleged sexual incident involving Dominique Strauss-Kahn in 2002 met her lawyer in Paris on Tuesday (May 17).
Lawyer David Koubbi has said his client, Tristane Banon, could file a complaint over an alleged incident that took place when she went to interview Strauss-Kahn in an apartment.Strauss-Kahn is currently being held on remand in a New York prison on suspicion of sexually assaulting an hotel chambermaid and is due to appear in court again on Friday.
Local media have seized on the alleged assault on Banon, which the victim said happened in 2002. Major newspapers including the left-leaning Liberation, le Parisien and the conservative Le Figaro carried accounts of the incident.
A graphic description of the alleged attack recounted by Banon herself on a 2007 television programme, was posted on the Internet and widely quoted and commented upon in French blogs and websites.
In the clip Banon, who was 22 at the time of the incident, says she had asked to talk to Strauss-Kahn for a book of interviews with leading French figures about the "biggest mistake you ever made".
She told how he had insisted on holding her hand during the interview and then made advances to her. There was no independent confirmation of her version of events.
Under French law, sexual assault charges must be filed within three years but attempted rape charges can be brought up to 10 years after the alleged attack.
Banon did not file charges at the time of the alleged assault after her mother Anne Mansouret, a local Socialist Party councillor and Strauss-Kahn friend, persuaded her against bringing proceedings. She says she now regrets that decision.