PARIS, May 30 (Reuters) – A French appeals court on
Wednesday lifted a gagging order that prevented former IMF chief
Dominique Strauss-Kahn from speaking to the media during a
judicial investigation into his links with a suspected
prostitution ring.
Strauss-Kahn is under investigation in France to establish
whether he knew he was dealing with prostitutes and pimps when
he attended sex parties in northern France, Paris and Washington
in 2010 and 2011 allegedly organised by business acquaintances.
He denies knowing that the women at the parties were
prostitutes or that there was any violence.
The ex-French finance minister visited a court in the
northern city of Douai last week to seek a lifting of the
gagging order and other restrictions that include a 100,000-euro
bail bond and a ban on speaking to any plaintiffs in the case.
The court upheld the restriction on him contacting witnesses
involved in the case.
Public prosecutors widened the inquiry last week to include
a possible gang rape charge after a prostitute told them
Strauss-Kahn and friends forced her to have sex in a group when
she came to Washington to meet him in December 2010.
The woman has not filed a formal complaint.
Strauss-Kahn’s career at the head of the Washington-based
International Monetary Fund was cut short when he was arrested
in New York in May 2011 on charges, since dropped, of attempting
to rape a hotel maid.
After criminal charges were abandoned over concerns about
her credibility, the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, pressed ahead with
a civil case. A New York judge rejected Strauss-Kahn’s claim of
diplomatic immunity earlier this month, allowing the case to
move forward.
Strauss-Kahn was placed under formal investigation in March
in the separate French case, which had led to the arrest of
eight people, including two Lille businessmen and a police
commissioner.
If Strauss-Kahn were found guilty on charges of “aggravated
organised pimping”, he could face up to 20 years in prison.
(Reporting By Thierry Leveque; Writing by John Irish; Editing
by Angus MacSwan)
