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Journalism of Courage
After criminal sexual assault charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn dissolved last year due to prosecutors’ doubts about his accuser’s reliability,she vowed to get her day in another court.
The hotel maid’s civil case against the former International Monetary Fund chief is now nearing an important point,with a hearing set for this week on Strauss-Kahn’s claim that diplomatic immunity should insulate him from the lawsuit.
The hearing,the first in the case,isn’t intended to weigh the essence of housekeeper Nafissatou Diallo’s allegation that Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her when she arrived to clean his luxury suite at Manhattan’s Sofitel hotel last May. The accusation put Strauss-Kahn,then a potential French presidential candidate,in jail for nearly a week and plunged his political career into a tailspin of sexual
scandal.
Rather,Wednesday’s hearing is likely to revolve around the complex laws that shield diplomats from prosecution and lawsuits in their host countries. And Strauss-Kahn’s arguments are raising some novel questions about the scope of those laws,experts say.
“This is a very unique set of circumstances,and high-profile,to boot,” said Robert C O’Brien,a former United Nations official who is now the managing partner of Arent Fox LLP’s Los Angeles office.
Neither Diallo,33,nor Strauss-Kahn,62,is expected to attend the hearing in a Bronx state court. It’s unclear when a judge will decide whether the case should be allowed to go forward toward a trial,which Diallo’s lawyers say she eagerly awaits.
