Film director guilty of sexual assault in France’s first big MeToo trial

A Paris court has found a filmmaker guilty of sexually assaulting French actress Adele Haenel when she was between 12 and 15 in the early 2000s, in the country’s first big MeToo trial.

Christophe Ruggia was sentenced to two years under house arrest with an electronic bracelet plus a two-year suspended sentence.

Ruggia had denied any wrongdoing.

In 2019, she accused Ruggia of having repeatedly touched her inappropriately during and after filming of the movie Les Diables (The Devils) in the early 2000s.

Ms Haenel appeared relieved, breathing deeply, as the verdict was delivered. She was applauded by some women’s rights activists as she left the courtroom.

The court ruled that Ruggia “took advantage of the dominant position” he had on Haenel at the time.

“During quasi-weekly meetings at your home for over three years you had sexualised gestures and attitudes” as Haenel was “gradually isolated” from her loved ones, the court said in a statement.

Ruggia’s lawyer said her client would appeal against the conviction.

At the Cesar Awards in 2020, she walked out of the ceremony after Roman Polanski won best director.

Polanski is still wanted in the United States decades after he was charged with raping a 13-year-old girl in 1977.

In 2023, Ms Haenel, announced she was quitting French film industry that she denounced for “complacency toward sexual aggressors”.

She published an open letter in which she said Cannes and other pillars of the French film industry are “ready to do anything to defend their rapist chiefs”.

While MeToo initially struggled to find traction in France, some other actors and film industry workers have since spoken out.