Strauss-Kahn pleads not guilty to sex charges

Updated on: 07 June,2011 07:49 AM IST |
Agencies |

Former International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn pleaded not guilty as expected yesterday morning to charges of criminal sex act, attempted rape, sex abuse, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching.

The charges stem from his alleged attack on a 32-year-old hotel housekeeper, who he is accused of forcing to give him oral sex when she came to clean his suite at Manhattan's Sofitel on May 14.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn and wife Anne Sinclair arrive for the hearingu00a0 yesterday. (Above) Maids from housekeeping union protestu00a0 against Kahn and chant slogans saying 'Shame, shame!'

"Not guilty," Strauss-Kahn said calmly, in French-accented English, rising after his lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, told him to stand up from his seat at the defense table.

His police statements will be filed, and publicly available, sometime this week said prosecutor Joan Illuzzi-Orbon.
The defense team has filed routine motions seeking Strauss-Kahn's statements and other evidence in the case.

His other attorney William Taylor asked for six weeks adjournment so that the team can receive and study those materials before responding in motions of their own.

"We believe it's appropriate to have that period in which to study that discovery," Taylor said.

"We are in receipt of the request for discovery and we'd like the opportunity to respond to it," Illuzzi-Orbon said.

Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus set July 18 as the next court date.

In a letter to prosecutors last month, Brafman and Taylor said they had but would not yet publicly release evidence that "would seriously undermine the quality of this prosecution and also gravely undermine the credibility of the complainant in this case."

Dozens of hotel workers gathered outside the courthouse, shouting "shame on you" as Strauss-Kahn arrived for the hearing.