Epress.am News from Armenia
IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn has consented to a medical examination over allegations of serious sexual assault, BBC reports.
Strauss-Kahn, who was arrested on Saturday, denies attacking and attempting to rape a hotel maid.
He had been due to appear in court on Sunday but the hearing has been postponed until Monday to allow the forensic tests to be carried out.
The former French finance minister is also considered a possible Socialist candidate for the presidency.
Strauss-Kahn — often referred to in France simply as DSK — had been detained at JFK airport on Saturday night as he prepared to fly to Europe.
He is believed to have been in New York on personal business and does not have diplomatic immunity.
The 62-year-old was kept overnight in a special unit for sexual harassment in New York’s Harlem borough. On Sunday he was charged with a “criminal sexual act, unlawful imprisonment, and attempted rape.”
Police say the 32-year-old woman who made the allegations formally identified him in a line-up.
Speaking outside court in Manhattan, lawyer William Taylor said Strauss-Kahn had “willingly consented to a scientific and forensic examination,” adding that he was “tired but fine.”
Strauss-Kahn was widely expected to announce his intention to run for the French presidency soon, and was seen as having a genuine chance of beating President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Paris regional councillor Michelle Sabban told AFP: “I am convinced it is an international conspiracy… This is a new form of political assassination.”
Regardless, BBC’s correspondent says following the latest accusations, there is little doubt in France that Strauss-Kahn’s political ambitions are now over.