Continuation and end of the Luc Besson affair. As AFP reported on Thursday, December 9, 2021, an investigating judge from the Paris judicial court has pronounced a dismissal for the 62-year-old filmmaker, accused of rape for three years by the Belgian-Dutch actress Sand Van Roy.
Citing sources close to the case, the magistrate followed the requisitions of the Paris prosecutor’s office, which had demanded in early October the abandonment of the proceedings in this highly media affair. “The elements of the procedure turned out to be insufficient to constitute serious or concordant clues likely to justify the indictment of Luc Besson, whether for the acts of rape on the night of September 24 to 25, 2016 in London or for those of May 18, 2018, in Paris “, writes the magistrate in her order for dismissal. “Consequently, a decision of dismissal will be made for the acts of rape covered by the complaint of Sand Van Roy against Luc Besson.. “
Luc Besson, who has always disputed the facts, had not been indicted but only placed under the less incriminating status of assisted witness. As confirmed The Parisian, Sand Van Roy has already announced his intention to appeal. In addition, she announced on Twitter to bring “complaint for forgery” against judge Marie-Claire Noiriel.
I have never raped a woman in my life
As a reminder: the actress had filed a rape complaint on May 18, 2018 against the influential French producer and director, the day after a meeting with him at the Bristol, a Parisian palace. Two months later, she had denounced other rapes and sexual assaults, committed, according to her, during two years of a “relationship of professional influence” with the producer.
Luc Besson was heard by the police in October 2018, then confronted with his accuser in December. “I have never raped a woman in my life (…). I have never physically or morally coerced a woman into anything“, he said in October 2019, while acknowledging having had an extra-marital relationship with the actress. Despite everything, in this personal ordeal coupled with serious financial setbacks with his company EuropaCorp, the filmmaker can count on the support flawlessness of his wife, the producer Virginie Silla, the mother of his three children, Thalia, Sateen and Mao.
Several personalities have been questioned in this case, including Anne Parillaud, who was Luc Besson’s wife between 1986 and 1991, and with whom he shares his eldest daughter, Juliette. The actor Franck Gastambide also answered the investigators’ questions, since he directed the film Taxi 5 (produced by Europacorp, Luc Besson’s company), in which Sand Van Roy played a role. On June 15, 2020, it was Maïwenn’s turn to give his version of the facts. She had then taken his defense.