Strauss-Kahn denies sex attack

The former International Monetary Fund head charged with trying to rape a hotel maid formally said he was innocent of the charges today in his first court appearance in the case in two weeks.

The former International Monetary Fund head charged with trying to rape a hotel maid formally said he was innocent of the charges today in his first court appearance in the case in two weeks.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn pleaded not guilty in a strong voice at the brief hearing, standing between his defence team as his wife, journalist Anne Sinclair, watched. He already had said he’s innocent.

State Supreme Court Justice Michael Orbus went through the formality of telling Strauss-Kahn he needed to appear in court and had a right to be present at his trial to which the economist said “yes.”

His next court date is set for July 18.

The French diplomat appeared in state Supreme Court in Manhattan for the first time since he was released on $6m bail last month. He has been under house arrest that includes 24-hour monitors and armed guards, first in a downtown Manhattan apartment and now in a town house.

His arrest rocked politics in France, where Strauss-Kahn had been considered a potential contender in next year’s presidential elections, and shook the IMF. He resigned his post at the powerful lending body after his arrest, and it has yet to name his replacement.

Strauss-Kahn was arraigned on charges of attempted rape, sex abuse, a criminal sex act, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching. The most serious charge carries a maximum term of five to 25 years in prison.

The 32-year-old maid at the Sofitel near Times Square in Manhattan told police Strauss-Kahn chased her down a hall in his hotel suite, tried to pull down her tights and forced her to perform oral sex.

Prosecutors said last month that evidence against Strauss-Kahn was building by the day. Tests have found Strauss-Kahn’s DNA matched material on the woman’s uniform shirt.

But Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer Benjamin Brafman told a judge that the defence believed any forensic evidence “will not be consistent with a forcible encounter” – a remark that could signal his lawyers are planning to argue the episode was consensual.

About 50 hotel workers bussed in by their union gathered outside the court to jeer Strauss-Kahn, many wearing their work uniforms. They shouted ``shame on you'' as he arrived, and again as he left in a black car.

The accuser “is a hard-working woman who was just doing her job,” said Wendy Baranello, a hotel union organiser. “It’s outrageous.”

The protesters wanted to send the message that “New York is the wrong place to mess with a hotel worker,” said Aissata Bocum, a hotel worker.

The maid’s lawyer, Kenneth Thompson, said she would give evidence and condemned speculation that she either made up the attack or exaggerated the claims.

“The victim wants you to know that all of Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s power, money and influence throughout the world will not keep the truth about what he did to her in that hotel room from coming out,” he said.

He said the 32-year-old woman has not worked since the encounter because she is traumatised. And she will not settle the case or back down.

“She is standing up for women around the world sexually assaulted who are too afraid to come forward,” he said.

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