Tristane Banon will bring civil case if Dominique Strauss-Kahn not prosecuted

Reuters

The French writer who says French former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her in 2003, declared on primetime television on Monday that if her case did not result in a criminal prosecution, she would instigate a civil case.

Tristane Banon appeared on the private television channel Canal+ the day after former Socialist minister and one-time presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn was himself interviewed on television for the first time about the events of the last four months which have left his reputation in tatters.

Strauss-Kahn told an estimated over 13 million viewers then that he did not rape New York hotel chambermaid Nafissatou Diallo, and that he did not attack Tristane Banon eight years ago.

French police are investigating Banon's allegation that in 2003 Strauss-Kahn lured her to a flat, locked the door behind her and attempted to rape her.

In response to those who wonder why she waited until July 2011 to press charges, she declared on Monday "Everybody told me not to go to the police."

When she went to lawyer David Koubbi two years ago, he advised her to seek prosecution, but she says she did not feel up to it.

Paris police have not yet decided whether or not to charge Strauss-Kahn in the Banon case, but legal observers suggest that it would be hard to prove anything eight years after the events and without physical evidence.

A judge in New York dismissed the chambermaid case on a request from the prosecutors, who reported their doubts about Diallo's credibility.