Strauss-Kahn accuser denies consensual sex claim

"I think that when the jury hears her testimony and sees her in person, and finally she can come public with this and tell her story, I think that (they will find) their claims of consensual sex or encounters are not true," attorney Jeff Shapiro told NBC television. "There is nothing consensual about what took place in that hotel room.”

Strauss-Kahn lawyer Ben Brafman said in court Monday that the evidence "will not be consistent with a forcible encounter".

A prominent French feminist and lawyer has called on France’s Socialists to put “respect for women” before “friendship and clan loyalties” in reacting to the affair. Strauss-Kahn is a former Socialist minister and was expected to bid to be the party’s presidential candidate in 2012.

“Can you really believe that a simple chambermaid, who is black and a single mother as well, wouldn’t be telling the truth? What would be in it for her?” Gisèle Halimi asked an interviewer for Le Parisien newspaper, calling on well-known female Socialists, such as party leader Martine Aubry to “express compassion for the victim”.

Strauss-Kahn’s personal lawyer, William Taylor, refused to comment on his client’s plans in relation to his position at the IMF after US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner declaration that his is “obviously not in the position to run the IMF”.