Prosecutor calls for unconditional discharge for Strauss-Kahn in French pimping case

French public prosecutors have called for an unconditional discharge for former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn in the case of pimping brought against him in Lille, northern France. Earlier they called for a prison sentence for one of his codefendants, “Dodo the Pimp”, and suspended sentences and fines for three others.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn arrives at the court in Lille Reuters/Pascal Rossignol

“What struck me was the total lack of consideration for the women, relegated to simple objects of pleasure,” prosecutor Frédéric Fèvre, told the court on Tuesday morning.

But, he went on, “We work with the penal code not the moral code.”

Neither the investigation nor the court case had managed to establish beyond reasonable doubt that Strauss-Kahn was guilty of “aggravated pimping”, Fève said on Tuesday afternoon and he called for unconditional discharge of the one-time Socialist presidential hopeful and IMF chief.

On Monday two former prostitutes who had given evidence dropped their civil cases against Strauss-Kahn, accepting that, despite accounts of humiliation and involuntary sodomy, they had been unable to prove that Strauss-Kahn knew they were being paid for sex.

Dominique Alderwiereld, nicknamed Dodo la Saumure in a complicated pun on French slang for a pimp, was not so lucky.

Fève asked for one year in prison plus one year suspended and a 10,000-euro fine for his role in organising orgies for Strauss-Kahn and his friends.

The prosecution asked for René Kojfer, the former PR manager at Lille’s Carlton Hotel where some of the orgies took place, to be handed a 15-month suspended sentence and a 2,500-euro fine and for Béatrice Legrain, who “coached” the women, three months suspended and a 5,000-euro fine.

Lawyer Emmanuel Riglaire, who introduced one of the women to another defendant, David Roquet, who paid her for sex, also received three months suspended and a 5,000-euro fine.