NEW YORK: Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn walked out of court without bail Friday, freed from house arrest, after prosecutors acknowledged serious questions about the credibility of the hotel housekeeper who accused him of sexual assault. The release of Strauss-Kahn, who had been confined for weeks to a ritzy Manhattan loft on $6 million in cash and bond, could upend French politics again. Charges against him include attempted rape, have not been reduced, but the changes signal that prosecutors do not believe the accusations are as ironclad as they once seemed. The 32-year-old hotel maid accused Strauss-Kahn of chasing her through his luxury suite in May, trying to pull down her pantyhose and forcing her to perform oral sex. Authorities have said they have forensic evidence of a sexual encounter, but defense lawyers have said it wasn't forced. “It is a great relief,” said Strauss-Kahn's attorney, William Taylor. “It is so important in this country that people, especially the media, refrain from judgment until the facts are all in.” After his arrest, Strauss-Kahn, 62, resigned from his post leading the IMF and watched his presidential ambitions seemingly crumble. The stark turn in the case came after the woman admitted to prosecutors she had made up a story of being gang raped and beaten in her homeland of Guinea to enhance her application for political asylum, prosecutors said in a letter to defense lawyers. She also misrepresented what she did after the alleged attack – instead of fleeing to a hallway and waiting for a supervisor, she went to clean another room and then returned to clean Strauss-Kahn's suite before telling her supervisor that she had been attacked, prosecutors said. The maid's attorney, Ken Thompson, fired back outside court, saying the district attorney's office was backing away from the case because it was too scared to prosecute it. He said she would come out in public to tell her story but didn't specify when. After the hearing, Strauss-Kahn slowly walked out the building with his arm on her shoulder, smiling at the throng gathered outside. His passport remained surrendered, and he will not yet be allowed to leave the country. Within days of his arrest, a poll suggested that a majority of French think Strauss-Kahn was the victim of a plot. Socialist Party chief Martine Aubry announced her own presidential bid this week, after having long been expected to throw her weight behind a Strauss-Kahn candidacy. French politician Michele Sabban said Friday that the Socialists should suspend the presidential primary calendar because of the new developments.
