Dominique Strauss-Kahn, in his first interview since his May arrest in a sexual-assault case in Manhattan, said what happened in room 2806 in New York's Sofitel Hotel "involved no violence, no coercion, no aggression."
The former head of the International Monetary Fund and a one-time leading potential Socialist Party contender for the French presidency called his encounter with a chambermaid at the hotel a "moral failing" and apologised to his family, friends, and to "the French people."
"What happened was more than an inappropriate relationship; it was an error," Strauss-Kahn, who returned to France on September 4, said in an interview on TF1 television yesterday. "I regret it infinitely."
Strauss-Kahn, 62, was charged with attempting to rape and sexually assault the chambermaid at the Sofitel Hotel in Manhattan. The case was thrown out last month, even though police determined there had been a sexual encounter between Strauss-Kahn and his accuser. New York prosecutors decided not to pursue a criminal case after they determined that his accuser had lied repeatedly to them and others.
"I was frightened," DSK, as he is known in France, said in the 20-minute-long interview when asked about his nights in a New York prison and his handcuffed "perp" walk. "When you're in the jaws of that machine you feel it can chew you up. I was humiliated before I could even say a word in my defense."
CIVIL SUIT
Strauss-Kahn was taken off an Air France flight at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, on May 14, hours after Diallo accused him of trying to rape her in his Sofitel suite.
He was interviewed yesterday by Claire Chazal, a friend and former colleague of his wife, Anne Sinclair. He still faces a civil suit by the New York maid, Nafissatou Diallo. In France, investigators are probing allegations that he tried to rape writer Tristane Banon eight years ago, a claim he has denied.
Although Strauss-Kahn acknowledged he acted immorally, he didn't explain any details of what happened on May 14, Douglas Wigdor, Diallo's lawyer, said in an e-mailed statement.
"That is inexcusable," Wigdor said. "We are confident that people will see his interview with his wife's friend for what it was -- a desperate ploy to gain sympathy with the French public."
