NY judge orders Strauss-Kahn released from jail

20/05/2011 - 20:09

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York judge ordered on Friday that former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn be released from jail and sent to an unspecified temporary home in Lower Manhattan where he will be detained under armed guard.

New York prosecutors told New York Supreme Court Judge Michael Obus that an initial location for Strauss-Kahn to be detained had fallen through. Strauss-Kahn is facing charges he tried to rape a hotel maid.

Obus earlier on Friday received a $1 million (615 thousand pounds) cash bail and $5 million insurance bond from Strauss-Kahn's lawyers.

Strauss-Kahn, who has spent the past four nights at New York's notorious Rikers Island jail, has denied charges of a criminal sexual act, attempted rape, sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment and forcible touching.

(Reporting by Basil Katz, writing by Michelle Nichols, editing by Jackie Frank)