DSK 'victims' asked to step forward
The lawyer of the New York maid has asked other women who claim to have been assaulted by Dominique Strauss-Kahn to step forward.
The appeal was made by Kenneth Thompson and broadcast on French TV on Tuesday evening. Thompson is acting for the 32-year old hotel maid who has accused Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape and sexual assault.
In his appeal on France 2 he said "if there is any woman out there, whether in France or in Africa, who has been sexually assaulted or sexually abused by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, I ask them to please call me."
One woman who won't be stepping forward is French writer and journalist Tristane Banon. Banon has claimed she was sexually assaulted by DSK in 2002. Her lawyer, David Koubbi, told BFM TV on Wednesday that she does not want to get involved with the American case. He said "these are two distinct cases and each case should be treated separately, according to the laws of the land concerned."
Banon claimed on a French talk show in 2007 that she had been assaulted by Strauss-Kahn five years earlier. His identity was protected at the time as the programme makers beeped out his name.
Strauss-Kahn appeared in a New York court on Monday and pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted rape and sexual assault. The next court date is 18th July.
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