New bail hearing for Strauss-Kahn

Dominique Strauss-Kahn was denied bail at a hearing on Monday

International Monetary Fund (IMF) head Dominique Strauss-Kahn will make a new plea for bail at a court hearing on Thursday morning, his lawyer says.

Mr Strauss-Kahn, 62, faces a number of charges in the alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid in New York and was denied bail on Monday.

Mr Strauss-Kahn, on suicide watch at New York’s infamous Rikers Island prison, denies all the charges.

The maid, 32, has said she is “scared” but will testify against him.

Mr Strauss-Kahn’s lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, said the new bail hearing would be in Manhattan on Thursday morning.

The IMF chief faces charges of committing a criminal sexual act, attempted rape, sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching.

On Monday a judge in New York denied Mr Strauss-Kahn bail – despite the offer of a $1m (£618,000) guarantee – saying there was a risk the IMF chief would flee the country. France and the US have no extradition agreement.

The BBC’s Laura Trevelyan in New York says the defence will offer a new package that they hope will convince the judge that Mr Strauss-Kahn will not try to flee.

Earlier on Wednesday the maid’s lawyer, Jeffrey Shapiro, said that his client feared for herself and her daughter when she discovered Mr Strauss-Kahn’s identity a day after the incident.

Mr Strauss-Kahn has been put on suicide watch at Rikers Island prison

He said there was “nothing consensual about what took place in that hotel room” in New York on 14 May.

Police have removed a piece of carpet from the Sofitel hotel, where the incident allegedly took place, for forensic tests.

The maid, from the West African nation of Guinea, told police that when she entered the hotel room, Mr Strauss-Kahn came out of the bathroom naked, chased her down and sexually assaulted her before she broke free and fled.

Mr Strauss-Kahn, one of France’s most high-profile politicians, has been seen as a front-runner in next year’s presidential elections. His arrest has shocked France.

His wife, former French TV interviewer Anne Sinclair, is thought to be visiting him in the next two days.

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