Strauss-Kahn case:

Pressure mounts

US: A New York state senator and a coalition of women’s rights groups and community leaders gathered Sunday to defend Tristane Banon, the alleged victim of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and demand the prosecution continue the sexual assault case. “We are here to ask the District Attorney to do his job. We ask (DA) Vance to let the victim have her day in court,” said New York Democratic Senator Bill Perkins at a news conference in Harlem.

Accompanied by representatives from the African American, Muslim and Latino communities in New York, including Miss Guinea USA, Perkins criticized the prosecution for reports they might abandon the case because of the credibility of the Sofitel employee who brought charges against Strauss-Kahn in May.

“A dismissal would discourage victims from coming forward for fear that they themselves would be put on trial,” Perkins said, adding that Strauss-Kahn’s credibility should also be in question following charges of attempted rape in France.

AFP