Journalist Edwy Plenel filed a complaint against director Maïwenn Le Besco for violence

The co-founder of the online newspaper Mediapart Edwy Plenel filed a complaint in March against the actress and director Maïwenn Le Besco, whom he accuses of having attacked him in a restaurant in Paris.

In his complaint filed on March 7, the president and publication director of the investigative media reports that on February 22, while having dinner with a lawyer in a restaurant in the 12th arrondissement, “a woman, previously seated, alone, at another table (…) arose and in a very short lapse of time violently grabbed the latter by the hair, throwing his head back and sketching a spit on his face”.

The woman, later identified by restaurant staff as Maïwenn Le Besco, “hastily left the restaurant without anyone being able to intervene given the speed of the action”. No word was spoken during this attack, which left the journalist “very traumatized by hate” manifested. The act had no physical consequences, but “completely detrimental on the moral and psychic level”is noted in the complaint.

“There can be no impunity”

“The act is unique but is no less violent, and somehow traumatic even in the absence of physical damage”, reacted to AFP Pierre-Emmanuel Blard, the journalist’s lawyer. “Even for this kind of act, there can be no impunity”, he added. Also contacted by Agence France-Presse, Maïwenn Le Besco’s lawyer, Me Julia Minkowski, did not wish to react.

According to the deductions of Edwy Plenel, who “personally never had trouble leaving” with the director, it is underlined in the complaint, the articles published by Mediapart on the suspicions of rape targeting Luc Besson, former companion and father of one of the children of the filmmaker, could have motivated his gesture.

Accused of rape by actress Sand Van Roy, the director and producer benefited from a dismissal confirmed on appeal in the spring of 2022. The actress filed a complaint for rape with the Belgian courts, which must examine its admissibility.