Among the details which the report reveals is the fact that Strauss-Kahn had reason to believe that his BlackBerry was being hacked, because he was informed on the morning of the alleged rape that an email he had sent his wife was in the possession of the UMP, the rival political party headed by Nicolas Sarkozy. It also cites the fact that the man responsible for handling emergencies at Sofitel hotels (where Strauss-Kahn was staying) sent an email to a friend five weeks later, subsequently leaked to French newspaper Le Figaro, claiming credit for “bringing down” Strauss-Kahn. He subsequently described it as a “joke”.

CCTV footage also shows the woman allegedly raped, Nafissatou Diallo, talking to the hotel’s chief engineer, Brian Yearwood, shortly after the alleged incident. A short while later, the report says, the same security camera shows Yearwood and a man who had accompanied Diallo to the security office earlier high-fiving each other and doing “what looks like an extraordinary dance of celebration for three minutes”.

There is also the mysterious fact that Diallo visited a hotel room near Strauss-Kahn’s both before and after the alleged rape, and then lied about doing so to prosecutors. Then there’s the curious detail that Strauss-Kahn’s missing BlackBerry – which was the reason he was detained, after phoning the hotel to ask for it – is still AWOL and has been professionally disabled. Even the most ardent Diallo supporter will have to admit that there are some pretty odd questions left unanswered in this case. DM

Read more:

• What Really Happened to Strauss-Kahn? In the New York Review of Books.

Photo: REUTERS