Strauss-Kahn is accused of assault

PARIS – A young French author has formally accused former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape, breaking her long public silence with a dramatic account of fending off an attacker who ripped at her clothes as they fought on his apartment floor.

Tristane Banon’s criminal complaint, which was filed Tuesday, was already spawning an ugly public battle that follows trans-Atlantic mudslinging over the chambermaid who accused Strauss-Kahn of forcing her to perform oral sex in his New York hotel room.

The sudden weakening of the maid’s case because of doubts about her credibility revived hopes in Strauss-Kahn’s Socialist Party that he could return to France and retake his position as the strongest potential challenger to conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2012 election.

Those hopes could be undermined by the 31-year-old writer’s legal action, which is expected to set off a lengthy preliminary investigation by prosecutors into whether there is enough evidence to pursue a case in France.

Strauss-Kahn allies took to the airwaves Tuesday to try to undermine Banon and question the timing of her complaint about an incident that she says took place in 2003, when she was trying to interview Strauss-Kahn for a book project. Banon first recounted the incident on a 2007 TV show in which Strauss-Kahn’s name was edited out.