On air at 1100GMT: What does the DSK case reveal about France?
| 10:15 UK time, Tuesday, 17 May 2011
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This topic was discussed on World Have Your Say on 17 May 2011. Listen to the programme.
Despite the offer of $1million bail Dominque Strauss-Kahn, the head of the IMF, was forced to spend last night in the tough New York Rikers Island jail. He was arrested on Saturday boarding a plane after being accused of trying to rape a hotel maid. The court said for this reason it was a risk he would skip bail. He denies the charges.
He faces seven charges and could be jailed for up to 25 years if found guilty. Is Rikers Island jail the right place for him? Should a prisoner like DSK get special treatment?
It's a huge turn round of events. He was seen as a frontrunner in next year's French Presidential election, the Times newspaper reports a former close colleague of Strauss-Kahn saying (subscription only)
"He is on the same level as the head of state of any of the G8 countries. This is why his arrest has come as such a shock. When you are in that position you think about every move you make"
DSK, Dominque Strauss-Kahn and Rikers island are all trending worldwide on twitter.
There's been shock in France at seeing Mr Strauss-Kahn handcuffed on TV. In France it is but not convicted.
Gilles Klein, a French social media journalist, who joined us on yesterday's World Have Your Say, said the US hard line approach with Dominque Strauss-Kahn was the Americans way of getting back at France over the Iraq war.
Will this put further pressure on the American French relationship?
And critics are now asking whether the ,
"It raises the uncomfortable question in the French media and politics of two parallel worlds: what is printed, and what is behind it, gossip, and what must officially remain "unsaid".Join us at 1100GMT
