Dominic Strauss-Kahn released

Oh please Edd - DSK lied about whether he had a sexual encounter with her in the first place. Are you coming over all holier than thou about his lies being unacceptable too?

Funny how none of DSK supporters ever want to comment on this...

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2029163/Dominique-Strauss-Kahn-maid-Nafissatou-Diallo-testify-France.html

"Paris-based barrister Thibault de Montbrial said he had today filed the complaint in Pontoise, another Paris suburb, saying Strauss-Kahn's legal team had 'put pressure' on the witness, including offering her money to remain silent.

This would amount to perjury, and could result in a prison sentence for those involved in the alleged cover-up of evidence, with Ms Diallo appearing in Paris as a prosecution witness."

This thing just stinks to high heaven. I really really hope that he isn't allowed to get away with this and that the women he has abused, club together and get some sort of justice.

If there's contraditions in her story then we have a problem. Lies are unacceptable. Strauss-Kahn's image will be tainted for a very long time to come

edd, what proof do you have that the complainant in this case lied about what happened to her? The evidence was not put before a court, so remains untried, untested. If it goes to a civil court, it might be.

(I won't speculate on where your head might be. :) )

Because "victims" telling lies is perfectly ok slhilly. Your head is in the clouds darling

Oh goody, we can add a fourth thing we know about Edd:

• Edd lacks self-awareness, thinking that saying "Serves the "victim" right for lieing. I hope she has to pay legal fees, gets charged and has to pay him compensation" is neither vindictive nor mysogynistic

"Question your use of 'other human beings'. Not sure they see the equivalence tbh."

True aliceliddell.

The sex class having a right to bodily autonomy is just too much of a contradiction isn't it...

I'm interested in this snippet from the following link;

"Diallo's lawyers have also filed a complaint against a Strauss-Kahn ally in France for allegedly trying to silence a witness with money."

hi aliceliddell. Yes I did look up that name/link, but tbh I didn't really understand what you meant. I never heard of him before, and I have my doubts about the JA case out of my own suspicions of the US, the whole wikileaks revelations, the fact there is so much more still to be released etc. I didnt know if you meant that guy was right or wrong or JA was set-up or is guilty, or what, sorry.

vindictive misogynistic views? No... far from it

Things we now know about Edd:

• Edd holds vindictive misogynist views
• Edd doesn't spell "lying" correctly. Or Edd.
• Edd thinks Edd is funny

Good job I'm not trying to, isn't it?

slhilly... that's not how you spell silly :P

Edd... that's not how you spell lying. In fact, it's not how you spell Ed. Well, I mean it is, cos it's how you spell it. But it's not how the rest of us spell it.

at aliceliddell

Serves the "victim" right for lieing. I hope she has to pay legal fees, gets charged and has to pay him compensation

Also let's remember that if you want to set a French male politician up, then rape charges are actually a really stupid way to go about it.

Raping women (especially if they are black servants) just isn't that big a deal in patriarchy (as this incident shows very well).

There isn't an awful lot one can do to bring down a rich white powerful male but as anybody knows an accusation of rape is a pretty feeble attempt.

People in France have a lower opinion of champagne socialist DSK for driving a Porsche and wearing fancy suits - much more serious issues than his sexual predation.

It is just fine for him to be 'The Great Seducer' who cheats on his wife and sexually harasses women he has power over however.

Pretty poor show when a man's choice of car becomes more important than his respect and decency towards other human beings and their bodily autonomy.

Fewcloudy are you suggesting that rape court cases are not antagonistic and adversarial?

I doubt there are many feminists who would agree with that.

I too see similarities with this and Assange - people who would normally snort at conspiracy theories are suddenly donning their tinfoil hats because it is like really unlikely that a man with a reputation for sexually harassing and assaulting women and abusing his position of power might commit rape. It is of course so much more likely that said serial predator has been set up .

One problem with that theory is that it ignores the human being status of Mrs Diallo in all this. She isn't a pawn, she is a person.

Sure it might suit certain people that DSK has finally been named for what he is and they no doubt didn't pull strings too fast to get him off the hook. In the end the old boys club/network/ will protect him from even being questioned about his actions.

When he allegedly attempted to rape Tristane Banon was that a set up too?

I will be surprised if her civil case is successful. I agree with the first 8 words of beachcombers last post but very few would agree with much of the rest of it...

And why shouldn't he be advised to sue her? I am sure that we have not heard the last of this, and as I said yesterday, I see similarities between this and Julian Assange. All too convenient for the US. The players involved in it are just pawns.

Oh I also heard this morning that HE is being advised to sue HER !!!

I'm still upset about this and made the mistake of switching on French news last night, where everyone is saying he was exonersated (no he wasn't, the charges were dropped on a flimsy pretext and charges have been brought forward on other people with far less evidence and credibility than that) and that it is time to rehabilitate him back into French politics. All I can say to thta is noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I agree that it does undermine her credibility, but I think it only undermines it seriously if you take the story out of context.

Mrs Diallo lied about being gang raped in order to escape a dangerous country where gang rape is an everyday real risk to women. She didn't lie about this in order to create a false rape charge. She also, poor thing, couldn't have known that she would be the victim of rape in the future and have this action used against her in order to have charges dropped.

More context - forensic evidence proves beyond reasonable doubt that a sexual encounter occurred between DSK and Mrs Diallo. She says it was rape, he says it was consensual.

They have both lied about things - she lied in order to flee a country where she was under risk. He lied about whether he had a sexual encounter with her in the first place.

Seems to me that his lie is a whole lot more relevant to this actual case than hers.

Her lie about the gang rape had a perfectly understandable motive.

What would be her motive for lying about whether DSK raped her or not?

What would be his motive for lying about whether he raped her or not (or indeed whether he had any sexual encounter with her or not)?

Mrs Diallo may be considered to be too weak a witness. However, I think she is only a weak witness because the current legal system makes rape cases very very antagonistic where the point isn't to find out what really happened but to discredit the woman and get the man off at all costs. Rape victims are still being put on trial themselves even though it is officially illegal to do so.

I blame the patriarchy.

"If in a sexual assault, the victim is regarded as a witness, why should previous examples of illegal or dishonest activity automatically negate her testimony as unreliable"

Because her previous example of "dishonest activity" was another detailed and believable rape story, which turned out to be fabricated. So yes, it does undermine her credibility here.