The New York Times is reporting that lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn are asking a judge to dismiss a sexual-assault lawsuit against him, saying that he was entitled to immunity under a United Nations convention that protects heads of specialized agencies.
Because Mr. Strauss-Kahn was the managing director of the International Monetary Fund when he was accused of sexually assaulting a hotel housekeeper in Manhattan in May, he was entitled to the protections adopted in 1947 at the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of Specialized Agencies, his lawyers wrote in documents filed on Monday in State Supreme Court in the Bronx.
The housekeeper filed a civil suit last month against Mr. Strauss-Kahn in the Bronx, where she lives, after Manhattan prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss a criminal case against Mr. Strauss-Kahn.
In the filing on Monday, his lawyers said that although the United States was not part of the 1947 convention, it was applicable in American courts because it had been adopted under customary international law.
Source: the New York Times.
While he has every right to defend himself and to try to protect his assets, it's outlandish for him to try to hide behind immunity at this point of the game. As Diallo's lawyers point out, he was not acting on behalf of his employer at the time of the incident. He was in New York City on personal business. Whether or not he ends up paying in the civil case will be based on court findings. What does he have to fear?
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