The Luc Besson case is in the hands of the highest French court. The accusations of rape of Sand Van Roy against the director will be examined by the Court of Cassation on Wednesday 23 May. Luc Besson categorically refutes these accusations and two dismissals, in his favor, have already been pronounced in this case. On May 18, 2018, the 35-year-old Belgian-Dutch actress filed a complaint for rape, a few hours after a meeting in a Parisian palace whose protagonists gave two versions.
Two months later, the actress filed a complaint against the filmmaker for other rapes and sexual assaults committed, according to her, between 2016 and 2018, episodes of a "relationship of professional control" under threats of "retaliation on her acting career". After an investigation, the investigating judge dismissed the case, a decision confirmed by the Court of Appeal in May 2022.
The actress' defense had then appealed to the Court of Cassation. According to Antoine Gitton, lawyer of the actress, the decision of the Court of Appeal would be tainted by procedural irregularities, would have "distorted" certain elements of the file, and would have also and above all endorsed a procedure "unfair" since its origin, to the detriment of the actress.
" READ ALSO "The case Luc Besson is not over", promises the lawyer of his accuser
Luc Besson is serene
According to information seen by AFP, the rapporteur proposed at the end of January that the appeal should not be admitted to the Court of Cassation, considering in particular that the defence questioned the "sovereign assessment" of the Court of Appeal, that its arguments were not serious and that the highest French judicial court did not have the right to rule on the need for a further investigation. The Advocate General also advocated non-admission, taking up an argument comparable to that of the rapporteur.
«
Luc Besson calmly awaits the decision of the Court of Cassation, which will follow all the decisions that have already been rendered and which have all recognized his innocence, "said his lawyer Thierry Marembert. He welcomed the fact that the reporting adviser of the Court of Cassation and the Advocate General considered the pleas raised by Sand Van Roy "devoid of seriousness".
«
The work of justice is more literature than cinema. After the lost time, we wait very serenely for a judicial time found, here or there, "said for his part the lawyer of the actress. The actress has also filed a complaint for rape in Belgium against Luc Besson. The Belgian Constitutional Court is expected to rule at the end of 2023 on the admissibility of this complaint.
