Strauss-Kahn rape accuser speaks out

ByaseL · 2011-07-25T08:53:08+00:00

NEW YORK A Guinean woman who has accused former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of trying to rape her in a New York hotel has broken her silence, saying she wants him to go to jail and to clear her name. "Because of him, they call me a prostitute," she told Newsweek magazine in her first public interview since the alleged attack by the former powerful French politician in a Manhattan hotel suite in May. "I want him to go to jail. I want him to know there are some places you cannot use your power, you cannot use your money." She was fighting back against allegations that appeared in the US media, after New York prosecutors openly questioned her credibility, saying she had changed her story and lied on her asylum application. There were also media reports of possible links to criminal activities and that she was recorded speaking by phone with a boyfriend jailed for possessing marijuana and discussing the benefits of pursuing charges. The woman has not been seen in public since the alleged attack and said she was whisked away to a hotel with her 15-year-old daughter and not allowed to return to her apartment for two months. She was also due to appear on ABC's "Good Morning America" Monday, exactly a week before Strauss-Kahn is due back in court in New York on August 1 for his next hearing on seven charges of attempted rape and sexual assault. "I want justice. I want him to go to jail," the woman, who AFP has chosen not to name in line with its policy of protecting victims of alleged abuse, told ABC. Seeking to address some of the prosecutors concerns, she told Newsweek she did not have any boyfriends, just friends who had taken advantage of her, and she had mistakenly trusted one enough to give him access to her bank accounts. She admitted "mistakes" to ABC but insisted that her account of what happened inside the hotel room has remained the same even if the timeline surrounding the circumstances of when she ran away changed because she had been disorientated. But Strauss-Kahn's lawyers Sunday renewed a call for the charges to be dismissed, accusing the 32-year-old illiterate immigrant of organizing an unprecedented media campaign and trying to "inflame public opinion." The maid's attorney in turn accused the ex-IMF chief's team of engaging in a "smear campaign" replete with "baseless" and "contemptible" attacks. "They are defence attorneys, and clearly believe that these types of false personal attacks are part of their job description," Kenneth Thompson said.

Thread starter ByaseL
Start date Jul 25, 2011

ByaseL

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Strauss-Kahn rape accuser speaks out

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