An eight-month suspended prison sentence was requested on Tuesday March 14 against a film producer, former administrator of the 50/50 Collective, prosecuted for "sexual
assault by a person in a state of manifest intoxication
" against of an actress.
The trial took place in a room of the Paris judicial court full to bursting with friends of the producer, former administrator of the 50/50 association which advocates parity, diversity and the fight against sexual violence on shootings.
The complainant, represented by her lawyer, Me Anouck Michelin, was absent from the hearing.
"
I ask the court to find (the defendant) guilty of the facts with which she is charged
", asked the prosecutor, requesting eight months in prison accompanied by a probationary sentence of two years, an obligation of care and a ban on entering. in contact with the complainant.
The court will announce its decision on May 23.
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“My pantyhose prevented it”
The facts date back to March 11, 2022 during an evening in the Parisian apartment of a member of the association.
The next day, the actress, now 50 years old - notably instigator of the #MeToo movement in Africa - filed a complaint against the producer, two years older.
"
I was in a skirt, she put her hand on my left thigh and moved it up to my sex, with the desire to penetrate me, but my pantyhose prevented her, even though I clearly felt his finger.
I remained frozen for two or three seconds, then I took her hand and pushed her away violently
, “said the actress to the investigators.
The producer had been placed in police custody for nearly 48 hours.
Appearing free under judicial supervision, the respondent again contested all the charges, “
an invention
”.
She said that she had been arrested "
in a very aggressive way
" by the actress who accused her of smoking at the window, then that she had "
put her hand in her hair
" and had "
said to him" it's fine happen”
.
"
I didn't know that running your hand through your hair was a post-colonial act
," she added, pleading that she had "
no sexual attraction to women
."
“
It ruined my life.
I didn't do anything to him except put my hand in his hair
, ”she concluded with a sob.
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No one witnessed the offending gesture, recalled his lawyers, My Céline Lasek and Fanny Colin, speaking of a "
botched, unfair, unbalanced and unfair investigation, carried out solely against the accused
", asking for "
full cancellation
" .
of the procedure.
For Mr. Michelin on the contrary, the case is "
simple
": "
A social evening takes place, one of the guests disinhibited by alcohol goes beyond the limits
".
"
We see everything through a prism, this" We believe you "takes everything including the critical spirit
", retorted Me Lasek.
“
Twenty-five people in a lighted room, without music, who witnessed a sexual assault and no one saw anything, heard anything?
»
The case had caused the explosion of the feminist association which had made itself known during the 2018 edition of the Cannes Film Festival by bringing together 82 women on the steps, to denounce "
the glass ceiling
" in the world of cinema. .
82 was the number of female directors selected to compete for the Palme d'Or since the first edition in 1946, compared to 1,688 men.