Update on the IMF chief accused of rape:

[the_future_modernes]

IMF Chief Allegedly Sexually Assaulted A Journalist In 2002

...But perhaps the most serious one, especially in light of what just happened, is the allegation that he tried to rape, or at least sexually assault, a French journalist, Tristane Banon, in 2002, and then covered it up.

The story comes via the French online citizen media Agora Vox.

Banon spoke in a TV show of the encounter with a high-ranked official, whose name was beeped out (!) in the program. Reached by Agora Vox, she confirmed that the official was indeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
Here's her story as told on TV, via Agora Vox's transcript, translated and lightly edited by us (emphasis ours):

He asked for us to meet, and gave me an address I didn't know. That was surprising because I know a little bit about his life, more or less, where he lives, where his offices are. ... But this was nothing of the sort.

MORE

The Daily News has more information on the accuser:IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, accused of sexually assaulting hotel maid, consents to DNA testing

His accuser, described by a co-worker as a single mother of African descent, stared down the political star during a police lineup at the special victims unit.
...

Police sources say investigators have no reason to doubt the victim's story.
She has no criminal record and no ties to the  financial big shot, who had been running well ahead of French President Nicolas Sarkozy in opinion polls in France.

"She's well-mannered, quiet," her hotel co-worker said. "It's crazy. It's horrible. Stuff like this shouldn't happen."
A Sofitel official said the maid had worked for the hotel for three years and is a "satisfactory employee." At the maid's Bronx apartment building, neighbor Donovan Mitchell, 21, described her as "low key" and said, "She doesn't bother anybody.":MORE

And Lord knows she'll need every ounce of good reputation she can get, because there's a whole lot of "its a setup and the rest of the usual rape apologist bullshit going on!" stuff going on.

French viewers were stunned by the images of the handcuffed Strauss-Kahn ducking stone-faced into a police car. In France, public figures are usually shielded from view in such circumstances. A New York City judge said Monday afternoon that Strauss-Kahn must remain jailed at least until his next court hearing for attempted rape and other charges.

In France, fellow Socialists increasingly defended Strauss-Kahn, citing contradictions in the investigation, and pledged to stick to the campaign calendar.

The judge's decision to jail Strauss-Kahn "is very, very severe," said Socialist politician Pierre Moscovici.

"So far we haven't heard his side of the story. I'm waiting to hear it with a certain disbelief, because I have known him for 30 years, and I've never considered him to be a violent man. So I'm waiting for him to talk, I want him to talk," Moscovici said in an interview on French television channel i-Tele.

A friend of Strauss-Kahn's, fellow Socialist politician Jean Christophe Cambadelis, said: "In the file, there are a lot of contradictions beginning with the escape, which was acknowledged today that it didn't happen."

"His close friends cannot believe that he is guilty and he will soon be with us. And finally, we are hoping that the trauma, in one form or another, with Dominique Strauss-Kahn we hope, will be surmounted."
MORE

And there is a whole lot of...downplaying his predatory behaviour into his "weakness for women" and his "seducing of women" and "he had a real power of attraction", just WTF?????

Anyway, the political implications:The French Reaction to IMF chief's arrest

On Sunday, French politicians and the media characterized the arrest as political earthquake as well as a soap opera. “It’s an episode of Dallas and DSK is JR!” said Lionnel Luca, a lawmaker in Mr. Sarkozy’s center-right UMP party, according to a roundup of reactions, published by the French newspaper Liberation, under the headline: “Shock. Political Bomb. Thunderclap.” “Real or false, this affair concerning the director of the IMF puts him out of the Presidential race even before the Socialist Party’s primaries and above all it also discredits France on the international stage,” Mr. Luca said.

Le Monde also reported that Mr Strauss-Kahn was visited Saturday by the French consulate general, Philippe Lalliot, in line with his regular duties. “The French embassy and consulate are mobilized,” said a French foreign ministry spokesman is quoted as saying.

The political fallout of the arrest in France received wide attention. As my colleagues Katherine Bennhold and Liz Alderman report in The International Herald Tribune, the arrest has set the stage for a reconfiguration of the political landscape in France that could allow the far right National Front, led by its founder’s daughter, Marine Le Pen, to become a potent force in upcoming elections.:MORE

Oh great. Marvelous!

He's still in jail without bail at the moment.

ETA: Things wut I learned today: Violent crimes like rape typically do not have diplomatic immunity. Really??? CSI, you lied to me!

Comments

[happydork]

Re diplomatic immunity: The BBC claims Strauss-Kahn does have diplomatic immunity.

They cite the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (pdf), which I've just scanned through -- I think the BBC piece does a great job of summarising the relevant bits. Article 31 is the bit that outlines what we typically think of as "diplomatic immunity", which is what applies to Strauss-Kahn; Article 37 is talks about the lesser immunity that people attached to the diplomatic mission in other roles might have.

I'll see if I can hunt down the IMF's policy (which is what CNN is citing -- the IMF can waive Strauss-Kahn's diplomatic immunity), but, yeah, CNN appears to be misleading on some aspects and wrong on others.

[happydork]

So, the FT says (Thorny issue of immunity tests IMF) that while the IMF's articles of agreement don't give Strauss-Kahn immunity outside actions in his official capacity (Article IX, Section 12), The Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the UN (pdf)* does say that the Secretary General and Assistant Secretaries General get full diplomatic immunity.

This is probably all moot anyway because, as the FT says: “However, it is almost unthinkable that the IMF would make a move to exploit this legal anachronism of providing blanket immunity for an international official,” said Mr Kurbalija. “The laws of diplomatic immunity need to be synchronized with the values of our time.”



*I recommend taking a glance at this document even if you're willing to take my summary on trust, just for the gloriously, gloriously inappropriate use of comic sans.

Thanks for the clarification!

[the_future_modernes]

Dear IMF.

Please waive that bastard's immunity. Please please please.

[buria_q]

forceful editorials:

http://www.fpif.org/articles/the_imf_violating_women_since_1945

(although i did not like that they had eve ensler speak on behalf of women in d.r. congo)

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-05-17/laila-lalami-defends-dominique-strauss-kahns-accuser/?cid=topic%3Amostrecent1