Justice versus conscience

Strauss-Kahn exits the New York State Supreme Court in New York on Tuesday. Foto: KENA BETANCUR/ REUTERS

Former International Monetary Fund head Dominique Strauss-Kahn is a free man after the case against him was formally dropped by a New York court on Tuesday. Prosecutors said they no longer trusted the 33-year-old hotel maid who alleges he attempted to rape her in a luxury suite at a Manhattan hotel in mid-May.

Despite evidence that showed there had been a sex act between Strauss-Kahn, 62, and Nafissatou Diallo, a chamber maid at the Sofitel and former asylum-seeker from Guinea, prosecutors questioned her credibility. They discovered inconsistencies in her story, including ties she had to convicted criminals, and a history of making false claims.

Strauss-Kahn could receive his French passport as early as Wednesday, after which he is expected to return home to face another investigation, this time into his alleged sexual assault of novelist Tristane Banon in 2002.

A civil case in New York against Strauss-Kahn still looms, but it may take up to two years before a trial begins. Meanwhile, the former suspect may be planning his own lawsuit against Diallo, his lawyer Benjamin Brafman told the Associated Press.

Hier geht es immer um die großen Themen, die weltweit wichtig sind. Wir sprechen mit Expertinnen und Experten aus Politik, Wissen¬schaft und dem SPIEGEL über den Krieg in Europa und andere Themen, die uns bewegen.

Strauss-Kahn’s Future Uncertain

In a statement released after the charges were dropped, Strauss-Kahn called the ordeal “a nightmare for me and my family,” and thanked his wife, family and friends for their support. Diallo’s lawyer accused prosecutors of abandoning his client and denying her the right to a fair trial.

She had said that, after entering what she believed was an empty suite to clean it, Strauss-Kahn chased after her, groped her genitals and forced her to perform oral sex on him, allegations that produced charges of attempted rape and sexual abuse and committing a criminal sex act. Investigators proved with DNA evidence that Strauss-Kahn’s semen had been found on Diallo’s work uniform, but his lawyers maintain that he did not force himself on her.

Meanwhile Strauss-Kahn, who was also the top presidential candidate for the French Socialist Party (PS) before the allegations against him emerged, now faces a career and reputation in ruins. Still, members of his party have expressed cautious relief that the drama in the US has ended just two months ahead of their primary election for the French presidential race in 2012.

On Wednesday, German commentators weighed in on the debacle, discussing its implications for both the people involved, the US judicial system and society as a whole.

The conservative daily Die Welt writes:

“We don’t know what happened. In light of the alleged rape victim’s mendacity, the New York public prosecutors didn’t dare to find out the truth.”

“Rape is officially a crime. That wasn’t always the case, but it is the result of a long process of democratization and liberation grounded in the beliefs that women and men have equal rights and are entitled to the human right of self-determined sexuality … But what exactly defines rape, where it begins — at least in certain individual situations — is not quite so clear. Prominent court cases have proved this. The accused men, driven by testosterone and power, allegedly took what they lusted for like macho types from the past.”

“Officially our society has come a long way: Women and men have equal rights, sexuality is self-determined and voluntary, human dignity is untouchable in any circumstance. Still the players in this society…are shuffling far behind these noble goals. Thus, there is no end to this drama, neither good nor bad. The story of unequal treatment between the sexes, along with the humiliations, intrigues and betrayal, is far from over.”

The conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes:

“The fact remains that Strauss-Kahn’s public existence — as director of the IMF and promising French presidential candidate — is probably destroyed forever.”

“Naturally leading members of his French Socialist Party (PS) have welcomed the end of the ‘DSK affair’ … But the joy is dampened because Strauss-Kahn is no longer a contender for the primary election that will determine the Socialist candidate for the presidency. But there are also tactical reasons … Strauss-Kahn’s followers were divided while their ‘matador’ was out of action. Some now support party leader Martine Aubry, while others are for her big rival François Hollande. Some are still waiting to see who ‘DSK’ himself chooses. But whether that will be useful for his favorite remains to be seen.”

The Financial Times Deutschland writes:

“This affair, staged like an entertainment spectacle, was a test for the US justice system. It failed miserably. Pre-judgment took place instead of presumed innocence, conjecture instead of clarification, public sensationalism instead of personal protection, and a pre-trial pillory took the place of an unbiased investigation.”

“The treatment of the witness also paints the American legal system in an unflattering light. Is the hotel employeee in Strauss-Kahn’s room unreliable because she was connected to drug dealers and scams? The expression, ‘Those who lie once can’t be trusted,’ has practically become a legal principle in front of US courts. That’s how possible verdicts are spoiled.”

The left-wing Die Tageszeitung writes:

“The decision is reasonable and plausible … It doesn’t mean that a poor black woman is less believable than a rich white man. It also doesn’t mean that the main accusation isn’t believable when a woman contradicts herself on details of the event. The discontinuation of the trial certainly doesn’t mean that a woman who has lied in the past can later be raped with no consequences.”

“No single point [against the alleged victim] would be enough to put the case against Strauss-Kahn in question. But all of the points together created such strong doubt that criminal prosecution cannot continue. And thus it is right to drop the charges.”

The financial daily Handelsblatt writes:

“If one lesson should be taken from the failed case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn it should be this: Have mercy on those who fall into the grasp of the US justice system. Even if the public prosecutors stopped a case that lacks foundation at the last minute, Strauss-Kahn’s case exposes the weaknesses of the American justice system … Those who don’t have the means to fight against this must fear injustice before the court.”

“This goes to the question of why the statements of the alleged victim were sufficient, without previous examination, to set a martial trial in motion. A trial that appealed to the most base instincts of the public by staging the fall of one of the world’s most powerful men.”

“If anything remains from the Strauss-Kahn case, hopefully is will be a lively debate over the American justice system.”

The center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes:

“The ruling weighs heavily and will have long-running effects … With it many victims will be once again reminded that one shouldn’t report a rape because everything but the crime will be hauled into daylight — their life beforehand, old mistakes and new weaknesses. And because the victim, or so it would appear, can easily be turned into the perpetrator.”

“And Strauss-Kahn, the bright, the brilliant, the charmer? Though a free man, he’s still hunted. He will go down in history as someone who used and hassled women — he is also still confronted with a case by a French journalist back home.”

“Schadenfreude is out of place here. Even when they don’t wish to appear as such, at the end of this affair, two lives remain broken.”

— Kristen Allen