Disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on Tuesday made a rare appearance in public, when he attended a court hearing in which he is seeking an injunction to ban the memoirs of a former lover that are due to be published this week.

A tight-faced Dominique ignored television cameras and photographers as he strode into the courthouse, which was expected to rule on his attempt to halt Wednesday's publication of the book by legal philosopher Marcela Iacub, who says she had an affair with him.

Called 'Belle et Bete' (Beauty and Beast) she relates her seven-month affair with him last year. Although he is not named in the book, the author named him in an interview with Le Nouvel Observateur magazine.

Strauss-Kahn was cleared last year of the attempted rape of a New York hotel chambermaid in May 2011. But since his return to France, he has become embroiled in a series of investigations into aggravated pimping and allegations he used prostitutes that were supplied to him by people seeking favours.