Christophe Ruggia was sentenced to four years and fined for sexually assaulting the actress Adèle Haenel when she was a minor.
Catherine Porter and Ségolène Le Stradic
Reporting from Paris
A French court convicted the director Christophe Ruggia on Monday of sexually assaulting the actress Adèle Haenel when she was a minor, handing him a four-year sentence — two years under house arrest and the rest suspended.
It was the first major case to examine an accusation of sexual misconduct in French cinema since the #MeToo movement, which emerged in 2017 and was met with a severe backlash in France. It is also an important milestone for the French courts, which feminist activists in the country have denounced as ineffective, or even discriminatory, in cases of sexual violence.
Mr. Ruggia stood at attention as the judges explained the guilty verdict.
“You took advantage of the influence you had on the young actress Adèle Haenel,” the head judge, Gilles Fonrouge, said.
Ms. Haenel did not show any clear emotion when the verdict — which also ordered Mr. Ruggia to pay 50,000 euros, or about $51,300, in damages — was read out. But after she left the courtroom, and was applauded by a crowd outside, she paused for a moment to thank her supporters.
“Thank you all for coming, and for advancing human rights, by your presence, and the fact that we don’t give up,” she said.
“We’re in this together,” she added.
Mr. Ruggia’s lawyer, Fanny Colin, called the ruling “not just unjustified but dangerous,” stating that the judges had ruled to satisfy public opinion and “crushed” the fundamental rule of law — having the benefit of the doubt. Mr. Ruggia planned to appeal, she said.
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