An interesting point that has not yet been mentioned much in the US/UK media is that the French are shocked to see Strauss-Kahn being marched around in handcuffs. Showing such images are not done in France because there is a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. In the minds of many in France, showing a person in handcuffs is practically saying that the person is guilty before the trial has even started.
Another point that has been made is that just days before his arrest he had talked about being smeared in the campaign, knowing that something was going to be done. Was it a setup as some believe or is he just a sick person who was finally caught? The police sound quite convinced but lots of tests still need to be done and there's still a trial ahead. If he is indeed guilty, he should not receive any special treatment because of his political position.
More on the "dirty secret" that the media knew so well. The Guardian:
Less than three weeks ago, Dominique Strauss-Kahn sat down in a Paris restaurant for an off-the-record lunch with two journalists from the daily Libération. The IMF chief outlined the three biggest personal hurdles in his relentless campaign to become president of France: "Money, women and being a Jew."
He started with women. "Yes I like women, so what?" he asked. "For years, there's been talk of photos of a giant orgy, but I've never seen them come out," he added, challenging his opponents to produce long-rumoured pictures of a night at a posh swingers' club dating back decades. He said he had warned President Nicolas Sarkozy (while they stood side by side at the urinals of the gents during a recent international summit) to stop smearing him over his private life. Strauss-Kahn then volunteered to the journalists a hypothetical example of something that could bring him down: "A woman raped in a parking lot who is promised half a million euros to make up her story."
Before Strauss-Kahn's opponents began throwing what one socialist described as "stink bombs" at him, he was keen to present himself as the victim of a potentially ruthless campaign.
