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Sexual assault charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn are dropped as the court finds his accuser to be an unreliable witness. Strauss-Kahn takes the opportunity to thank his supporters.

In his first public statement since a New York judge dropped all criminal sexual assault charges against him, ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn thanked his supporters for standing by him.

[Dominique Strauss-Kahn, The Accused]:
"I look forward to returning to my country but I have a few small matters to take care of first."

A lawyer for the accuser, hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo, had requested a special prosecutor to continue the criminal case.

But on Tuesday (August 23), the judge dismissed that request.

Diallo's lawyers appealed the decision.

It is expected that the appeal's court will rule on that later on Tuesday, meaning Strauss-Kahn must await that verdict before he is free to return to France.

The accuser Nafissatou Diallo, a 32-year-old immigrant from Guinea alleged Strauss-Kahn sexually attacked her in his luxury hotel suite.

However Diallo told a series of lies about her past and about what happened immediately after the incident in New York's Sofitel hotel on May 14.

Her account of what happened in the attack never varied.

But physical evidence was unable to prove lack of consent, leaving the case hinging on the believability of the accuser.

Prosecutors from the office of Manhattan District Attorney concluded "If we do not believe her beyond a reasonable doubt, we cannot ask a jury to do so."