dbc
PDF THINK TANK: ANALYST
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2009
- Messages
- 6,551
- Reaction score
- 14
- Country
- Location
Trust me, haven't been afraid to say anything, ever. Not in India, not in US.... It is mortifying that most americans dont understand the core of this issue, If the diplomat was arrested with due process upholding the spirit of vienna convention, not a single voice would have been raised. But if this is the way you treat your official diplomats of your allies, and provide preferential treatment to rapists like Dominique strauss kahn, it presents a very different picture.... In all fairness reciprocity should be accepted, or are we calling for special powers of american exceptionalism now?
Poor example, Dominique Strauss-Kahn was strip searched.
Unlike in the federal system, individuals arrested by the New York City Police Department are generally not subjected to strip searches in courthouse holding cells, said Tom Repetto, a police historian and author of several books on policing.
However, prisoners are strip-searched upon arrival at the city's Rikers Island jail, as the former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was in 2011 after being charged with attempted rape.
In U.S. justice system, the strip-search is common practice| Reuters
Strauss-Kahn does the 'perp walk' in handcuffs: this sort of thing doesn't happen in France – Telegraph BlogsIf anyone was in any doubt about the enormous gulf that exists between how the French and American republics conduct their politics, then they need look no further than the harrowing image of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF chief and putative presidential candidate, being led away in handcuffs by a bunch of New York cops after being subjected to the indignity of a DNA test. In America this is called the "perp walk", and it's supposed to be humiliating.
This sort of thing simply doesn't happen in France, where the sexual peccadilloes of its leading politicians are simply taken for granted. As my colleague Anne-Elisabeth Moutet wrote this morning, it was an open secret in France that Mr Strauss-Kahn had an eye for the ladies, and at one point tore off a young journalist's bra when she took his fancy. No one ever thought to contact the police because this is the type of behaviour everyone in France expects of their politicians.
But if, as is now alleged by the Manhattan police authorities, Mr Strauss-Kahn sought to inflict his sexual urges on an unsuspecting chambermaid during a stay at an upmarket New York hotel, he has badly underestimated America's brutal intolerance of what the French like to call crimes of passion.
Any attempt by a French policeman to handcuff a prominent politician would be tantamount to committing an act of treason. In America it doesn't matter whether you are OJ Simpson or an international statesman of the stature of Mr Strauss Kahn: if the cops believe you've broken the law, you'll soon find yourself paraded in public in handcuffs before being thrown in the slammer
Further to Con Coughlin's telling post about Dominique Strauss-Kahn forced to do the 'perp walk', it's worth noting why the images of DSK in cuffs are causing such consternation in France. First, there's the obvious enormity of seeing the main rival to Nicolas Sarkozy brought low in spectacular style. Second, there's the cultural shock of seeing a wealthy member of the ruling elite, who was thought to enjoy what the French media often refer to as impunity, put in a position that would be unthinkable in France. The impact on how France thinks about its leaders will be long-lasting. Third, there's a very specific legal reason to explain why commentators such as Agnes Poirier on Newsnight described the image as 'violent'. Since 2000 it has in fact been illegal to show suspects in detention when they have yet to be charged let alone convicted. The loi Guigou sur la présomption d'innocence was in part designed to protect the dignity of the accused. As Richard Malka a French expert in media law explained, the media's right to information does not mean right to humiliation. Technically, Mr Strauss-Kahn could sue French media outlets for using the pictures, but given that he's been sent to Rikers Island, he's got other poissons a frire.
Why the image of DSK in cuffs shocks France – Telegraph Blogs
