LILLE, France: Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn will face trial on pimping charges along with 12 others in connection with an alleged prostitution ring in Lille, prosecutors said Friday.
Strauss-Kahn was charged last year with “aggravated pimping as part of an organized gang,” in one of a string of cases that came to light after he was forced to resign from his IMF job over an alleged sexual assault on a New York hotel maid.
Prosecutors had in June called for the charges against Strauss-Kahn, 64, to be dropped, saying there was insufficient evidence to proceed to trial. But the Lille prosecutors’ office said investigating magistrates had ordered Strauss-Kahn and the other defendants to face trial, though on a lesser charge of “aggravated pimping as part of a group.” In the French legal system, investigating judges can overrule recommendations from prosecutors and force them to take suspects to trial.
One of Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers, Richard Malka, denounced the decision to go to trial as part of a “relentless” judicial campaign against his client.
Strauss-Kahn to be tried for pimping
