Prosecutor calls for acquittal of Dominique Strauss-Kahn

LILLE, France - A French prosecutor has called for the acquittal of Dominique Strauss-Kahn in his pimping trial in Lille - a day after five of six plaintiffs dropped their accusations.

Frederic Fevre said the former International Monetary Fund chief should be acquitted "pure and simple" - saying that "his notoriety shouldn't be in any way a presumption of guilt."

Fevre said he worried arguments centered on moral judgments about sexual acts carried out by Strauss-Kahn, who has testified to having orgies while he was managing the world financial crisis, to being "rough" with his sexual "conquests," and to needing sex with exceptional frequency.

But none of that is illegal.

As the trial in northern France entered its third and final week Monday, it looked increasingly likely that the onetime presidential contender will walk away with a clean criminal record.

Strauss-Kahn is accused of aggravated pimping over a series of sex parties in France, Washington and Brussels, while he was leading the IMF, and was married. He's one of 14 people accused of involvement in a prostitution ring run out of the Hotel Carlton in Lille.

Strauss-Kahn insists he didn't know the women involved were prostitutes. Two of his co-defendants say they recruited and paid the women themselves, and built a wall of silence to ensure that Strauss-Kahn wasn't aware.