Decision by France’s top appeals court effectively ends one of the most high-profile cases to emerge in the country’s #MeToo movement
France’s top appeals court has rejected a request to reopen a rape claim against film director Luc Besson, ending one of the most high-profile cases to emerge in the country’s #MeToo movement against sexual assault.
Dutch-Belgian actor Sand Van Roy accused Besson, director of The Fifth Element and Leon, of raping her during a two-year on-off relationship, and filed a complaint against him in May 2018.
Prosecutors dropped the case in February 2019 citing a lack of evidence. After new charges were filed by Van Roy, an appeals court also closed that case in May last year.
In a ruling seen by the AFP news agency, France’s Cour de Cassation, the court of last resort for criminal cases, said there was “no reason to justify pursuing an appeal” of the previous rulings.
“The Cour de Cassation has decided not to hear my appeal, which means once again the French judiciary refuses to examine the evidence in this case,” Van Roy said on Twitter.
“I will pursue these cases and will file a request with the European court of human rights,” she said.
A lawyer for Besson, who has denied the claims, said the decision “ends all the procedures of the past five years, which have found him not guilty”.
Besson has admitted having a relationship with Van Roy, who had minor roles in his films Taxi 5 and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.
She filed the initial complaint for rape in May 2018 hours after meeting Besson, before filing another complaint two months later for other alleged rapes and sexual assaults.
At least three other women have made allegations of sexual harassment against Besson, which he has also denied.
Source: The Guardian
