Strauss-Kahn denies knowledge of prostitutes at sex parties

Former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Feb. 10 denied knowing the women he took part in sex parties with were prostitutes, as he took the stand at his French trial on charges of aggravated pimping.
      
The silver-haired economist, whose presidential prospects were torpedoed by an earlier sex scandal, appeared tense as he answered questions from the lead judge.
      
"I committed no crime, no offence," Strauss-Kahn said in a letter read out to the court by the judge in the northern city of Lille.        

He also said from the witness stand that the sex parties he attended were few and far between, and that there was none of the "wild activity" of which he is accused.
      
Asked by lead judge Bernard Lemaire if he was aware the women at the parties were prostitutes -- the crux of the case against him -- Strauss-Kahn responded "no".
      
The 65-year-old former finance minister, known as DSK in France, argues he is merely a libertine who engaged in orgies with consenting adults and did not know the women lavishing their attention on him were paid.
      
Dressed in a dark navy suit, Strauss-Kahn then sat arms folded, occasionally sighing heavily as one of the prostitutes, known as Mounia, took the stand to testify against him, revealing sordid details of the soirees.
      
Now retired, Mounia broke into tears several times as she recounted one of the nights with Strauss-Kahn in a Parisian hotel, saying she had been forced to commit a sexual act which was "against nature".
      
"I think he realised" I didn't want to do it. "I was crying, I was in pain," said Mounia, adding that she went along with it because she needed the money.
      
However she said that no question of...