Elmont Online

PARIS -- A young French author formally accused former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of attempted rape and broke her long public silence Tuesday 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 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 New York prosecutors' doubts about her credibility revived hopes in Strauss-Kahn's Socialist Party that he could 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.

"He grabbed my hand, then my arm, I told him to let me go and that's when the fight started. He pulled me towards him, we fell down and fought on the ground for a few minutes," Banon told news magazine L'Express. She said she started kicking him, then finally broke free, ran down the stairs and called her mother from her car.

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.

Strauss-Kahn's lawyers on Monday labeled Banon's account "imaginary" and said they would file a criminal complaint of slander against her.

Strauss-Kahn was freed from house arrest, without bail, on Friday, but the charges of attempted rape and other crimes still stand. His New York accuser filed a libel suit Tuesday against the New York Post after it called her a prostitute.

Lawyer David Koubbi said Banon had been dissuaded from filing charges after the incident by her mother, Anne Mansouret, a regional councilor in Strauss-Kahn's Socialist Party. Mansouret now says she regrets urging her daughter not to file a complaint.