PARIS
The three-week trial of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who faces charges of running a prostitution ring, has begun in France.
The economist and one-time French presidential favorite faces up to 10 years in jail and a fine of up to €1.5 million for charges of "aggravated pimping in an organized group" for allegedly procuring prostitutes for luxury sex parties in Paris, Lille, Brussels, Washington and New York between 2008 to 2011.
Wearing a black suit, white shirt and tie and accompanied by his three defense lawyers, Strauss-Kahn was driven to the courthouse in the northern French city of Lille on Monday in a dark-windowed car without stopping to address journalists waiting outside.
The 65-year-old recently previously settled a U.S. civil case with hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo, who had accused him of sexual assault in a case which marked the end of his political career in France.
The case, dubbed the "Carlton Affair" after the Lille hotel at the center of the alleged sex ring, involves 14 people -- 12 men and two women -- including a hotel owner, a lawyer, businessmen, police and well-known barrister Dominique Alderweireld, nicknamed Dodo la Saumure.
- Sex parties
An attempt by defense lawyers Monday to have the trial in the northern French city of Lille heard behind closed doors was rejected.
The judge said: "The court finds that civil society lawyers still have a choice not to speak."
The group was allegedly involved in procuring prostitutes for sex parties in various locations including Lille's upmarket Carlton Hotel.
Public prosecutor Frederic Fevre told the court: "When you're a little girl, you dream of becoming a princess, not a prostitute.
"We have a duty to respect their suffering."
- Female escorts
Prosecutors claim Strauss-Kahn took part in, and may have organized, luxurious parties held in Belgium, France and the U.S. where female escorts were paid to have sex with guests, including himself.
He has admitted having sex at the parties, but said he did not know it was being paid for.
Alderweireld has denied knowing Strauss-Kahn in person, saying: "I’m not part of his world, he has nothing to do with me."
Prostitution -- the exchange of sexual services for money -- is not illegal in France, but it is against the law to solicit, or to run, a prostitution business.
