Strauss-Kahn 'rape attempt' writer to go primetime

French writer Tristane Banon, who has accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attempting to rape her in 2003 will appear on primetime television Monday, a day after the former IMF chief broke his media silence.

Tristane Banon, a 32-year-old French author who is the daughter of a family friend of Strauss-Kahn, has filed a formal complaint alleging that Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her in a Paris flat eight years ago.

She will be interviewed on Canal+ television news which starts at 7:10 pm (1710 GMT), the day after Strauss-Kahn's interview on TF1 television over recently dismissed charges he attempted to rape a hotel maid in New York.

Banon, who will be accompanied by her lawyer David Koubbi, brought her case in July after the New York charges. Police have already interviewed Strauss-Kahn concerning the allegation.

On Sunday, Strauss-Kahn claimed during his interview, conducted by a friend of his loyal wife, that his encounter with the New York hotel maid was "a moral failing" rather than attempted rape.

Strauss-Kahn also did not deny there had been an encounter with Banon, but said: "I was interviewed as a witness. I told the truth that in this meeting there had been no aggression, no violence, I will say no more.

"The version that has been reported is imaginary, slanderous," he added.

Paris prosecutors have not decided whether or not to charge Strauss-Kahn in the Banon case, but legal observers here feel it would be a hard case to prove eight years after the events and without physical evidence.