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Following The New York Times bombshell last night that the case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn "is on the verge of collapse" due to credibility issues with his accuser, a wave of shock, joy and indignation is hitting France. Citizens and Socialist Party leaders are grappling with the possibility that the felony charges against the former IMF chief could be dropped altogether. Though it's too early to say what will happen to Strauss-Kahn in court at Friday's hearing, given his stature as France's most popular politician prior to his arrest, commentators and politicians in his home country have begun pondering his political future and the hastiness with which American society presumed his guilt. Here's the landscape of reactions:
Joy "This news make me immensely happy and I think about his family," said Socialist Party head Martine Aubry on France's TV channel Tele. In the Guardian, Bernard Henri-Levy, the philosopher who defended DSK, expressed relief, "saying he was not a 'Neanderthal', expressed his 'great joy for the man, his family, and for principle.'" Jack Lang, a former Socialist culture minister speaking with The Times, said "You can’t play with the honor and dignity of someone. His life was temporarily broken, his honor put into question... I am a happy man, happy for him and for our country." From The Telegraph, French politiican Michele Sabban requested that primaries by suspended so that DSK can return to politics. "If Dominique Strauss-Kahn is cleared, I ask the Socialist party to suspend the primary process."