Homecoming marks end of three-month legal battle

PARIS - Dominique Strauss-Kahn, his presidential hopes shattered by a sex assault scandal that rocked his homeland, returned on Sunday to France facing a frosty public reception and unease among his political allies.

The former IMF chief arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport at about 7 am with his wife Anne Sinclair. Police escorts whisked the couple through the terminal, past waiting media, and into a car.

Dressed in a suit and smiling, Strauss-Kahn arrived at his apartment in the luxurious Place des Vosges Square in central Paris an hour later. He waved, but made no comment as he pushed through a sea of flashing media cameras.

"I am thinking about his joy, and that of Anne Sinclair, to be back here - that's already a lot," Jack Lang, a left-wing former culture and education minister and a neighbor of the couple, told reporters in the Place des Vosges.

"What we owe him, as socialists and friends, is to greet him here with warmth, friendship and joy."

But another resident of Strauss-Kahn's apartment building could be heard in the interior courtyard yelling: "You are a disgusting creature. Go and get cured somewhere else."

Strauss-Kahn's public relations team told journalists at the square he would not make any statement on Sunday.

His homecoming marks the end of a three-month struggle through New York's criminal court system after he was charged with attempting to rape a New York hotel maid. The case was dropped after her credibility was thrown into doubt.

His Socialist Party allies have cheered the withdrawal of charges against the man formerly tipped as a possible favorite to win the 2012 presidential election, but the damage to his image from the affair make his future unclear.

"It's a shame for France," said a 50-year-old woman called Claude who lives near the Strauss-Kahns. "He was my candidate."

Francois Pupponi, an ally and mayor of the Paris suburb of Sarcelles where Strauss-Kahn built his political base as mayor in the late 1990s, told LCI TV the former finance minister needed time to rebuild himself. "What's important is that he is back in France. He is going to be able to think about the future with more clarity," he said.

Strauss-Kahn, who was applauded by a handful of his supporters among the media throng as he arrived at Roissy Airport, also drew applause from his former International Monetary Fund colleagues last week when he apologized to them in person.

He has promised to also explain himself in France.

"He is going to speak. It is going to happen," Michele Sabban, a Strauss-Kahn supporter and senior councillor for the greater Paris region, told LCI.

Reuters