[Daily Nation (Kenya)] Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, accused of pimping in La Belle France, faced new legal worries across the Atlantic on Wednesday, with the first hearing in a US civil suit accusing him of sexual assault.The hearing in New York state court in the Bronx was the first in civil action brought by the hotel maid whose accusation of attempted rape last year triggered the spectacular downfall of one of the world's most powerful politicians.
Although US prosecutors tossed out criminal charges against Strauss-Kahn after deciding that Nafissatou Diallo's allegations would not stand up in court, the maid's lawyers are now pursuing unspecified damages.
"She wants recognition of her status as a victim and the reality of the attack she suffered," her French lawyer Thibault de Montbrial told French television channel LCI.
He said Diallo was still employed by the Sofitel hotel and expected to go back to work there at some point, adding that she still required treatment on her shoulder, "which was injured during the assault."
Strauss-Kahn and Diallo are neither required, nor expected, to be present in court.
Judge Douglas McKeon is due to start by hearing arguments on whether the suit should be dismissed because Strauss-Kahn had diplomatic immunity as head of the International Monetary Fund when he was tossed in the calaboose May 14.
The ruling may not come for several weeks, McKeon told AFP.