IMF ex-head Strauss-Kahn pleads not guilty

June 6th, 2011 - 10:13 pm ICT by IANS  

New York, June 6 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who is facing charges of sexual assault, pleaded not guilty at pre-trial hearings in New York Monday.

Strauss-Kahn, 62, was arrested in mid-May at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on board a plane to Paris. He is charged with sexually assaulting a maid at the Sofitel Hotel near Manhattan’s Times Square. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.

If Strauss-Kahn is found guilty, he may face up to 25 years in prison.

Some 100 maids from the New York Housekeeping Union dressed in their uniforms are holding a protest against Strauss-Kahn, chanting “Shame on you” on the street outside the court. The maids are demanding “justice” and ensuring the security of hotel employees.

The former IMF head had to spend several days in Rikers Island prison before a judge released him on a $1-million cash bail, and placed him under 24-hour house arrest.

Strauss-Kahn is staying with his wife, a well-known French journalist, Anne Sinclair, and daughter Camille at a $50,000-a-month TriBeCa townhouse in Manhattan.

–IANS/RIA Novosti
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