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If You Didn’t Know What ‘Aggravated Pimping’ Was Before DSK’s Trial, You Will Now

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A French court is expected to deliver its verdict shortly on charges of “aggravated pimping” made against former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the BBC reports.

As TIME noted when Strauss-Kahn was first charged in 2013, “aggravated pimping” under the French penal code describes pimping with, well, aggravating circumstances. Those include prostituting a minor, prostitution involving a weapon, and — alleged factors in Strauss-Kahn’s case — using more than one prostitute and working with a group.

Strauss-Kahn could face 10 years in prison, and a €1.5 million ($1.7 million) fine, if a Lille judge finds him guilty of procuring prostitutes for sex parties in the U.S., France, and Belgium, the BBC says. However, the state prosecutor in the case has already recommended acquittal, saying the evidence presented in court had not established Strauss-Kahn’s guilt. Five of the six plaintiffs have also dropped their accusations against the former French presidential hopeful.

Strauss-Kahn has admitted to being present at the sex parties in question but has consistently denied knowing that some of the women there were being paid.

During closing arguments, prosecutor Frederic Fevre reminded the court that it was “working with the penal code, not the moral code.” Although Strauss-Kahn’s sexual habits were the center of much discussion during the February hearings, he has repeatedly said that he is not on trial for “deviant practices.”

[BBC]

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