Prosecutor asks court to acquit Strauss-Kahn of pimping charges
The spokeswoman, Maud Perraudeau, didn't say why the prosecutor made the request. But the same prosecutor's office has long said there wasn't enough evidence to pursue the case, which investigating magistrates nevertheless decided to pursue to trial.
The charges against Strauss-Kahn involve sex parties he's accused of organizing or encouraging in Europe and the United States. Investigators alleged that the parties, in locations such as Belgium, New York and Washington, stemmed from a prostitution ring, organized from the Hotel Carlton in Lille.
In testimony last week, Strauss-Kahn acknowledged that the sexual encounters were organized in such a way that they could fit his agenda, but he denied organizing the parties or knowing that the women involved in the parties were prostitutes.
In France, prostitution is legal, but pimping is not.
"I don't consider myself as the organizer of any party whatsoever," he testified last week, adding that he had never asked anyone to organize parties for him.
The trial of Strauss-Kahn, who saw his stellar career plummet to earth after a separate sex scandal that resulted in his arrest in New York in 2011, opened in Lille just over a week ago. He was later cleared of the New York allegations.
Before that scandal erupted, he had been on track to run for the French presidency -- an election that his Socialist Party later won with Francois Hollande as its candidate.
The Lille prosecutor's office in late 2013 asked for Strauss-Kahn's case to be dismissed, citing a lack of evidence. However, the investigating magistrates did not follow its recommendations.