Affaire DSK : la justice américaine en question(s) French See Case Against Strauss-Kahn as American Folly. There was shock in France after the arrest of Mr.
Strauss-Kahn in May and intense criticism of the manner in which he was displayed in handcuffs, pulled unshaven into a televised court session and stuffed into a Rikers Island cell under suicide watch. There was confusion and criticism over the glee with which the New York tabloids in particular highlighted every humiliation and turned to clichés about the French — “Chez Perv” and “Frog Legs It” — in the coverage. And there was a sense that it was not just Mr. Strauss-Kahn who was being so jauntily humiliated, but France itself. Now, with the case appearing to collapse over questions about the credibility of the hotel housekeeper from Guinea who accused him, and Mr. Former Prime Minister Lionel Jospin said Friday that “he was thrown to the wolves” in the American system; a former justice minister, Robert Badinter, called Mr.
Noëlle Lenoir, a former European affairs minister, said many French felt insulted. He demanded that Mr. And Mr. Did US justice fail in the DSK case? Dominique Strauss-Kahn allowing himself a smile for the first time in several weeks, at a court hearing on 1 July, as the credibility of the hotel maid as the key witness in the case of attempted rape against him was thrown into doubt.
Photograph: Lucas Jackson/REUTERS With the criminal case of Dominique Strauss-Kahn all but completely unravelled, it is easy to second-guess the prosecutors and turn the matter into an example of all that is wrong with the American justice system. In fact, the case likely says more about how the system works, than how it doesn't. Recall the circumstances faced by prosecutors at the time of Strauss-Kahn's arrest. A hotel maid reports a rape by a foreign national who is, at that moment, seated on an airplane about the leave the United States for his home country.
He is immediately arrested and, within several days, indicted by a New York grand jury. Once prosecutors turned this damaging evidence over, Strauss-Kahn was immediately released from house arrest.
That old French anti-Americanism, it ain't what it used to be. In first days after Dominique Strauss-Kahn's arrest, there was a big spasm of media output about how the arrest revealed the massive cultural divide between France and the United States, yada, yada, yada.
Led by blowhard French intellectuals France's cultural elite, anti-Americanism seemed ready to spike back to 2003 levels. A funny thing happened in the ensuing days, however, a curious countertrend has emerged -- the wave of anti-American sentiment hasn't spiked at all. Sophie Meunier, your humble blogger's go-to expert on all things French, explains in the Huffington Post that what's happened instead has been far more interesting.
Arrangements hors cour. Juge élu - Conflit d'intérêts. BHL: 5 lessons of the DSK affair. French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy drew furious feedback for his immediate support of Dominique Strauss-Kahn in a column published on The Daily Beast in May.
Now vindicated, he writes on the lessons of the case. The Strauss-Kahn affair is not over. For it to be over, the American system of justice must pursue its investigation and work to the very end. If it’s truly to be over, Dominique Strauss-Kahn must be granted not only his freedom, but—even more importantly—restoration of his honor. In other words, “the Strauss-Kahn affair” will continue to be regarded as such as long as it hasn’t been clearly established that there never was any affair at all—and that the plaintiff, not content to have lied about this or that aspect of her past, also lied in accusing the former head of the IMF of having raped her. And yet, given recent revelations, we can already draw a few lessons from what will ultimately—no doubt very soon—be known as the Strauss-Kahn non-affair. 1. 2. What is Robespierrism? 3. Why we should protect those accused of rape - Crime.
What do David Copperfield, Michael Flatley, the Duke lacrosse team, the four Hofstra students, Rene Angelil (Celine Dion’s manager-husband), Rick Pitino, Kobe Bryant, KBR/Halliburton and Julian Assange have in common?
All were accused off rape, and will, in all likelihood, be remembered for that association, regardless of what ultimately happens (Assange’s case is ongoing; none of the cases have led to a conviction). It is time for a modest reform in rape jurisprudence; the accused should be granted anonymity unless and until found guilty. Ray Donovan, Reagan’s treasury secretary, after he was acquitted of trumped-up corruption charges, famously asked: “Where do I go to get my reputation back?” Before Dominique Strauss-Kahn knocks on that door, the short answer is: Nowhere, not possible, it is a permanent stain. President of France? Why should we be surprised?