You take his passport and have him tagged. Do you really think that the Head of the IMF and a serious candidate for the French Presidency is going to go on the run? If he is not proven guilty, you will have deeply insulted many people and a major country.
Are you daft? Strauss-Kahn has the wealth and political connections to avoid extradition
if he needed them, but there is no treaty in place between France and the United States to allow for extradition, as
Domisoldo pointed out. (This fact was also mentioned in the web citation offered earlier.) It's stupid to assume he'd voluntarily come back to the United States to hear charges in the future -- especially if he's guilty.
Roman Polanski -- the brilliant film director
and child rapist! -- escaped from the United States while on bail awaiting final sentencing by simply flying to France under his own passport and living there from 1978 until he unwisely traveled to Switzerland, where he was arrested, in 2009. He has so far escaped prosecution, but that doesn't change the fact that he broke the law here, is a fugitive, and has an outstanding arrest warrant. (A 43-year old man sleeping with a 13-year girl should offend anybody's sensibilities, but that's another Thread.)
This 'escaping justice' was precisely what the Judge was trying to avoid in the Strauss-Kahn case:
New York Times said:
Indeed, Judge Jackson, the supervising judge of Manhattan Criminal Court, indicated that she was concerned about Mr. Strauss-Kahns being stopped at the airport.
When I hear that your client was at J.F.K. Airport about to board a flight, she said, that raises some concern.
If he wasn't a flight risk, why was he trying to get the hell out of Dodge? You can read the entire article
here.
Since you're apparently unfamiliar with how United States law works, I'll give you the quick version:
- No one is above the law.
- Everyone is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
- Everyone accused of a criminal action is entitled to a speedy trial.
- If the facts fail to prove that he is guilty, he will be set free.
- Concerns about 'insulting people' are not considered when enforcing the law... nor should they be.
I'm not sure if you feel the need to defend the guy or if you just wanted to bash the United States by inferring that detaining him is wrong. Either way, rape is a serious allegation. Don't you think it's prudent for any jurisdiction to keep someone accused of rape off the streets (where they could potentially rape again) until compelling evidence that exonerates them is produced or until they were proven guilty? If you don't think it's prudent, who's to blame if he goes free pending trial and commits
another crime?
If it was a set-up, as some in the French press have suggested, that will become evident.
I actually suspect the accuser will receive a huge pay-off and withdraw the complaint. If the courts don't have a witness that will testify against the accused, the prosecution cannot go forward.
This isn't justice, but it is the way the justice system can be gamed. I think that's what we'll see happen and I'd be surprised if takes more than two weeks.