The investigation into director Christophe Ruggia, accused of sexual assault by actress Adèle Haenel, is over

The investigating judge in charge of the investigation targeting the director Christophe Ruggia, accused by the artist Adèle Haenel of sexual assault when she was a teenager, announced on August 22 the end of her investigations, we learned on Tuesday September 12 with the Paris prosecutor’s office. The closure of the judicial investigation comes a little less than two months after a confrontation lasting several hours, on June 29, between the actress, 34, and the director, 58, who contests the accusations. The parties can now send their observations, before the prosecution takes its requisitions.

Christophe Ruggia was indicted on January 16, 2020 for “sexual assault on a minor under 15 years old by a person having authority over the victim“, Adèle Haenel being aged 12 to 15 at the time of the alleged facts. The actress had denounced in 2019 to Mediapart a “grip” from the director, then a “permanent sexual harassment”of the “touching” repeated and “forced kisses on the neck”. The actress’s accusations caused an earthquake in French cinema, which had until then remained impervious to the #MeToo movement.

In a right of reply, Christophe Ruggia had refuted “the physical gestures and sexually harassing behavior of which she [l]’accused”while acknowledging having “made the mistake of playing the pygmalion with the misunderstandings and obstacles that such a posture gives rise to”. Since then, the actress has denounced several times “the general complacency of the profession towards sexual attackers” in the cinema industry. Last May, she announced her break with cinema in a letter to Telerama.