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Prosecutors ask for dismissal of Strauss-Kahn case

China.org.cn, August 23, 2011

• New York prosecutors formally moved on Monday to dismiss the sexual assault charges against former IMF (International Monetary Fund) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, according to the official document filed on Monday.

  Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and his wife Anne Sinclair leave their temporary Manhattan residence in New York July 2, 2011. [Photo/Agencies]

  The hotel maid, Nafissatou Diallo, made numerous false statements and gave prosecutors and a grand jury "irreconcilable accounts" about events immediately after the encounter, leaving investigators unable to determine what actually occurred, prosecutors from the office of District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. said in a motion filed Monday, Bloomberg reported.

  "If we do not believe her beyond a reasonable doubt, we cannot ask a jury to do so," the document stated.

  "While an abiding concern for victims of crime is an essential attribute for every prosecutor working in the office, that concern cannot eclipse our obligation to act only on the evidence and the facts," assistant district attorneys Joan Illuzzi-Orbon and John McConnell said in the filing.

  The judge of the State Supreme Court in Manhattan freed Strauss-Kahn on July 1 from house arrest. Prosecutors acknowledged that there were significant credibility issues with the hotel maid.

  Strauss-Kahn's lawyers, William W. Taylor III and Benjamin Brafman, said in a statement that Strauss-Kahn and his family were grateful for the decision.

  "We have maintained from the beginning of this case that our client is innocent. We also maintained that there were many reasons to believe that Mr. Strauss-Kahn's accuser was not credible. Mr. Strauss-Kahn and his family are grateful that the District Attorney's office took our concerns seriously and concluded on its own that this case cannot proceed further," the statement read.

  While the lawyer for Nafissatou Diallo, Kenneth P. Thompson, said that the Manhattan district attorney had denied the right of a woman to get justice in a rape case.

  Thompson said "he has not only turned his back on this victim but he has also turned his back on the forensic, medical and other physical evidence in this case."

  Strauss-Kahn is expected in court on Tuesday. He also faced a civil lawsuit filed by the hotel maid on Aug. 8, Xinhua reported.

   

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