Ex-IMF chief Strauss-Kahn goes on trial for pimping

Ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn went on trial on Feb. 2 for pimping as part of a prostitution ring, four years after a sex scandal cost him his job and a shot at the French presidency.
      
The disgraced 65-year-old economist found himself back in the dock -- this time in the northern French city of Lille -- accused of being at the centre of a vice ring which hired prostitutes for sex parties in Brussels, Paris and Washington.
      
A silver-haired Strauss-Kahn, dressed in a dark suit, slipped past a throng of journalists to arrive early in the wood-panelled courtroom, where he paced up and down with his hands in his pockets in front of the imposing stone bench, where over 40 massive files were stacked.
     
He appeared on edge as he sat, arms folded, while presiding judge Bernard Lemaire read out the charges against him and 13 co-accused, a colourful cast of characters including luxury hotel managers, police, and a brothel owner nicknamed "Dodo the Pimp."       

"You are accused of aiding and abetting the prostitution of seven persons between March 29, 2008 and October 4, 2011, and of hiring and encouraging the prostitution of these same persons," Lemaire told Strauss-Kahn.
      
Procedural applications, such as a request by a lawyer for the former prostitutes involved for hearings to take place behind closed doors, were expected to dominate the first day of the trial.
      
Lurid details of group sex and high-end prostitution are likely to emerge in the trial for "aggravated pimping in an organised group", a charge punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 1.5 million euros ($1.7 million).
      
The trial will be the latest in a series of legal woes offering a peek behind...