‘The Fifth Element’ director cleared of rape charges

Director Luc Besson, known for ‘The Fifth Element’ (1997) and ‘Lucy’ (2014), has been cleared of rape charges by actress Sand Van Roy. The decision was decreed by the French court of justice this Wednesday (21/6) and put an end to the process that lasted more than five years. Throughout this period, the trial was marked by several episodes that exonerated Besson.

In a statement released by The Hollywood Reporter, the director’s attorney, Thierry Marembert, declared his victory. “It confirms all the decisions of the last five years that have declared him innocent. Thus, definitively, it puts an end to this process started in 2018, during which Luc Besson was systematically acquitted by all the magistrates who examined the case. As a lawyer, I welcome this exemplary procedure, which has allowed the manifestation of the truth that Luc Besson is innocent,” he said.

The Belgian-Dutch actress filed her first rape complaint against the French director in May 2018. The day before the incident, she met him at the luxury hotel Le Bristol in Paris. Two months later, the actress added more rapes and sexual assaults committed by Besson to the complaint. It is worth mentioning that she maintained a two-year relationship with the director, when she played small roles in some of her films, such as ‘Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets’ (2017).

The case started to present problems when the actress took toxicology tests to confirm her claim that she was drugged by the director, but it came back negative. At the end of that year, Besson was questioned by police and prosecutors closed the initial investigation in February 2019, due to lack of evidence. Dissatisfied with the situation, the actress filed a new civil complaint, which led to the reopening of the trial.

Eight more counts of assault

After Van Roy’s accusation, the French portal Mediapart followed up on other complaints and collected the testimonies of eight unidentified women, who also filed a complaint for harassment, essentially for gestures deemed inappropriate.

At the time, the #MeToo movement was ringing in Hollywood, which encouraged women to accuse abusers who worked in the entertainment industry, as was the case with producer Harvey Weinstein.

Among the allegations against Besson, a former employee, in charge of casting in his films, sued the director due to an extremely sexualized work environment. An unnamed actress also claimed she was subjected to violence during the director’s “professional meetings” in hotel rooms in the early 2000s, where he allegedly threw himself on her.

All charges would be time-barred and would not generate lawsuits.

Source: Terra

Ashley

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