DSK meets his French accuser in Paris

Dominique Strauss-Kahn met in a face-to-face confrontation in Paris yesterday with a Frenchwoman who says he tried to rape her. The woman said he refused to apologize or even look at her during the session with investigators.

Investigators questioned the former International Monetary Fund chief and Tristane Banon to help them decide whether to pursue charges of attempted rape brought by the woman.

Banon, 32, claims that Strauss-Kahn attacked her during an interview for a book in 2003. Strauss-Kahn calls the claims imaginary and slanderous.

Banon said in an interview with TF1 TV station that "he kept repeating it's imaginary . . . I thought he would excuse himself. He didn't even look at me," Banon said.

Strauss-Kahn made his only public appearance since returning to France less than two weeks ago on the same show, and he has not made himself available to reporters since.

Still, Banon said the meeting was a "first victory" for her.

She requested the one-on-one meeting, which is sometimes used in France to help officials decide if a case is worth pursuing.

The two did not speak to reporters as they arrived separately at the police facility and declined to comment when they left.

Strauss-Kahn quit as IMF head and saw his chances for the French presidency evaporate after a New York hotel maid accused him of attempted rape in May.

The U.S. case was dropped amid questions about the maid's credibility, but the maid, Nafissatou Diallo, has filed a civil suit.

Strauss-Kahn said Monday he has diplomatic immunity and asked a New York court to dismiss the lawsuit.

Banon repeated her intention to also sue Strauss-Kahn if Paris prosecutors don't go forward with a criminal case against him.

One challenge for Banon's case, which was filed after Strauss-Kahn's May arrest in New York, is that the incident in question allegedly happened eight years ago.

Banon has defended her decision not to file charges at the time. In 2003, she was 23 years old and Strauss-Kahn was an eminence grise of France's Socialist party.