PARIS
The prosecutor in the trial of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has called for him to be cleared of all charges of aggravated pimping.
The call at the court in Lille, northern France, on Tuesday came a day after several former prostitutes dropped their civil actions against the former French politician.
Prosecutor Frederic Fevre told judges: "I consider that neither the criminal investigation nor the hearing helped to prove the guilt of Dominique Strauss-Kahn. I demand his release."
Fevre explained that Strauss-Kahn's "fame must not be a motive for severity," asking: "Did he profit financially from prostitutes, pay them, look for them? No."
"It is up to the court to convict on evidence, not intentions," he said.
- Sex parties
Strauss-Kahn, 65, has insisted during his trial that he was unaware that women who took part in sex parties with him and French businessmen in Europe and the U.S. when he was head of the IMF were prostitutes and said any activities were between consenting adults.
Investigating magistrates have claimed that the parties were part of an organised sex ring using prostitutes, some of them women from Lille forced into selling themselves through destitution.
The 65-year-old, who was once viewed as a potential Socialist president for France, faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of €1.5 million if he is convicted of aggravated pimping.
He is involved in the case along with other 14 people -- 12 men and two women -- including a hotel owner, a lawyer, businessmen, police and Dominique Alderweireld, who runs several brothels in Belgium and is widely known as "Dodo the Pimp."
- Impoverished women
The prosecutor requested Tuesday that Alderweireld, who has already been convicted twice on similar charges in France and once in Belgium, should be sentenced to two years in prison and pay a €10,000 fine.
The trial, which opened two weeks ago, earlier heard how older men and business figures in Lille exerted their power over impoverished women in the city and used them as sexual playthings.
Strauss-Kahn recently settled a civil case in the U.S. brought by hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo who had accused him of sexual assault in a case which marked the end of his political career in France.
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