The French film director Christophe Ruggia was found to be guilty of sexual abuse of the actress Adèle Haenel on Monday when she was still a minor. Report that French media. Ruggia has been given house arrest for four years with electronic ankle band, two of which are conditional.
The case was brought by the now 35-year-old actress Haenel, known for, among other things, the prize-winning film Portrait de la Jeune Fille and Feu. She accused Ruggia of having repeatedly touched her during the film recordings Les Diables In 2001. Haenel was twelve years old at the time and she accused Ruggia, who was then at the end of thirty, to abuse her until she was fourteen. The actress said that she often went to Ruggia’s house at the time, where he touched her.
The relevant film Les Diables Is about an incestuous relationship between a brother and sister. The sex scenes and explicit images of the body of the then minor Haenel were already experienced as uncomfortable by adults on the set, the newspaper writes Le Parisien.
Haenel, who was visibly emotional in court on Monday, says that Ruggia’s actions have given her suicidal thoughts. The court in Paris therefore ruled that the now 60-year-old director must also pay the actress an amount of 15,000 euros for moral damage and 20,000 euros for years of psychological support.
Gérard Depardieu
Ruggia has always continued to deny and his lawyer says that he appeals the decision. While pronouncing the verdict, there were several female stars from the French film world in the hall, including Judith Godrèche, one of the figureheads of the French #metoo movement. Godrèche, who also accused the controversial American former film producer Harvey Weinstein of abuse, embraced actress Haenel after pronouncing the verdict.
In 2019, Haenel was the first actress to raise sexual misconduct in the French film industry through a criminal case. The case is therefore seen as the first French metoo case. In 2020, Haenel made a statement by standing up during the ceremony of the César Awards (the French Oscars) and leaving the room when filmmaker Roman Polanski won the prize for best director. The Polanski Polanski is suspected of the rape of a minor in 1977.
Ruggia is not the only man in the French film world who is in a lawsuit due to sexual misconduct on the set. The 76-year-old actor Gérard Depardieu, one of the best known actors in France, must also appear in court in March for sexual abuse of two women on the set of Les Volets Verts In 2021. He also denies the accusations.
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