Prosecutors ask for Dominique Strauss-Kahn case to be dismissed.

The BBC are reporting that New York prosecutors have asked for the case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn to be dropped.

Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers have maintained throughout that any sexual encounter was consensual:
“We also maintained that there were many reasons to believe that Mr Strauss-Kahn’s accuser was not credible….
Mr Strauss-Kahn and his family are grateful that the district attorney’s office took our concerns seriously and concluded on its own that this case cannot proceed further.”

Ms Diallo’s lawyer Kenneth Thompson insisted that justice was not being done.
“Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance has denied the right of a woman to get justice in a rape case. He has not only turned his back on this innocent victim but he has also turned his back on the forensic, medical and other physical evidence in this case.
“If the Manhattan district attorney, who is elected to protect our mothers, our daughters, our sisters, our wives and our loved ones is not going to stand up for them, when they’re raped or sexually assaulted, who will?”

If prosecutors drop the case Mr. Strauss-Kahn will be free to return to France though he could still be the target of civil action in the USA and in France writer Tristane Banon has claimed that Mr. Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her during a 2003 interview.

Prior to the allegations Mr. Strauss-Kahn had been director of the IMF and was seen as a very likely candidate for the French presidential elections in April next year. According to the BBC an opinion poll released in July showed two-thirds of French people do not want Mr Strauss-Kahn to be a candidate in the 2012 elections. Whether this will change if the case against Mr. Strauss-Kahn is dropped remains unclear.