Perhaps, but only 'attempted', and that is very ambiguous.

Of course, IF he is guilty, he should just play the 'Diplomatic Immunity' card and be done with it. That he hasn't makes his guilt very questionable.

Tom

as he was on a private visit to NY he does not benefit from the privilege of diplomatic immunity

Actually, as head of IMF, he does. Anytime, anywhere.

Tom

This is discussed heavily in French talk shows (there are dozens of them on French channels every day) and nobody seems to agree... If somebody knows a NY attorney, please phone him up. Thanks

Section 8 of IMF Articles of Agreement:

All Governors, Executive Directors, Alternates, members of committees, representatives appointed under Article XII, Section 3(j), advisors of any of the foregoing persons, officers, and employees of the Fund:
shall be immune from legal process with respect to acts performed by them in their official capacity except when the Fund waives this immunity; "

That sounds pretty gay to me...Don't you agree??

Ya Know... maybe he called for a call girl and it was a case of mistaken identity. He could have thought it was role playing,,, but it is still sexual assault none the less.

The victim here is the woman who was assaulted.
Her world is completely shattered, and she did not know power or wealth... she was just told to go in and clean a room.

This gives another perspective on the question of immunity.

Tom

Tom, Kahn was not a diplomat or had no immunity or so I heard...

I honestly think the guy is innocent.

In red the core of the problem: it was a private visit, he paid for the hotel himself, no mission for work in NY at that time.... private. Doesn't that exclude the condition of being "in their official capacity"?
Just asking, I don't know...

However "As the head of one of the UN's specialised agencies, the IMF managing director is just as immune from prosecution as any diplomat, says Jovan Kurbalija, director of DiploFoundation, a Geneva-based organisation researching the role of diplomacy in the modern age. Furthermore, unlike a diplomat - who is immune from prosecution only in the country where he or she is based - the head of a UN agency is immune from prosecution in all countries."


So, it's up for debate.


Tom

we can only agree that we disagree
Here is a comment on BBC article.

No, this is not as clear as you make it.

So attempted is ok? The criminal complaint doesn't sound ambiguous to me.

The priviledge belongs to the country or organization, not the individual they can revoke it.

You're right. It's only attempted rape.

According to one of today's newspapers the maid lives in an apartment that is only rented to people with HIV or aids. So maybe Strauss-Kahn has already defined his own punishment since nobody mentioned condoms?

Would that make him Iron man 3??

DSK resigned from his head post of the FMI and still denies the allegations vs him.

According to a famous French newspaper le figaro, there was an another employer in the room who was cleaning the table. when the cleaning lady came. She pushed the door which was opened ,asked him if she could entered and he said yes as he believed the room to be empty. then he left...

So her explanation of her entering the room and DSK suddenly jumping onto him falls through. that also means that she would not have used her pass card to enter , the only sure way to know the time it was when she entered.

Technically NO it's not attempted rape.


That's also why those women said "il a essayé de me sauter" instead of "il a essayé de me violer".

But maybe you don't understand the subtilities of the french language or the meaning of "sauter" in that expression...?