(Bruges) Belgian justice on Wednesday postponed for several months its decision on the admissibility of a rape complaint filed by actress Sand Van Roy against French filmmaker Luc Besson, pending an opinion from the Constitutional Court , according to lawyers for both parties.
Posted at 9:28
The Bruges court, which was to rule on Wednesday, decided to ask a preliminary question to the Belgian Constitutional Court which will determine whether the complaint is admissible or not, a procedure which can take from “six months to a year”, explained to AFP Joris Van Cauter, the lawyer for the Belgian-Dutch actress.
The information was confirmed by Virginie Cottyn, Luc Besson’s Belgian lawyer.
Sand Van Roy, 35, accuses the 63-year-old French filmmaker of assaulting her in a Parisian palace in May 2018, when this ex-model had just collaborated with the director of the Big Blue and Fifth element.
Luc Besson denies the charges.
Belgian law does not allow the investigation of a complaint relating to facts that have occurred abroad, with the exception of blood crimes or torture.
Me Van Cauter felt before the Bruges court that the law did not respect “the principle of non-discrimination and equality between the citizens of the country”, stressing that rape was a “heavy crime”.
He believes that he was “followed” by the court with this preliminary question.
The lawyer had filed a complaint in April in Bruges, after a “dismissal” in favor of Luc Besson rendered by the Paris Court of Appeal in the same case.