Tristane Banon's book calls Strauss-Kahn "the pig"

GlobalPost

France dropped its inquiry Thursday into a claim that Dominique Strauss-Kahn attempted to rape author Tristane Banon just as the young writer's novel was released.

French prosecutors dropped the investigation Thursday and cited lack of sufficient proof, the Associated Press reports.

Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, has already admitted to sexually assaulting Banon. However, a case on that charge cannot be brought against him because the alleged incident occurred more than three years ago and is therefore beyond the statute of limitations, AP states. An attempted rape case could have been pursued because the statute for that charge is 10 years.

This is the second time Strauss-Kahn has avoided being convicted of a sexual crime this year. A hotel chambermaid, Nafissatou Diallo, accused him of attempting to rape her when she entered his New York hotel room to clean it in May. Prosecutors dropped that case after deciding the maid was not a credible enough witness.

Meanwhile, CNN reports that Banon published a novel Thursday that looks at how her life changed after Strauss-Kahn was arrested in New York. She refers to Strauss-Kahn throughout the book not by his name but as "the baboon man" and "the pig."

In her 120-page book, Banon recounts the media frenzy that followed Strauss-Kahn's arrest and how quickly she became hounded by journalists, old acquaintances and random people on Facebook.

The Washington Post reports that while the book, titled “Le Bal des Hypocrites” (The Hypocrites’ Ball), is a novel, it tells of a sexual assault case that echoes her claims against Strauss-Kahn.

More from GlobalPost: French politicians are "nauseated" by Dominique Strauss-Kahn sex scandal

Here are excerpts from the book:

It was nine o’clock that Saturday morning and they were talking about the baboon on the television. He is a superhero, a Messiah, saviour … capable of everything. He would revive the country, lower taxes, understand the weakest and bring happiness and calm to each French household.

They showed pictures of him; in action in the four corners of the world. Superman. When I saw him his stare made me freeze, the television screen could not protect me, his smile was only for me, it forced its way into my stomach and the image only disappeared when I threw up my lunch. Suddenly his message on my telephone came back to me: “So, I scared you?”. That was eight years ago.

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