A 2018 rape lawsuit against Luc Besson, the French director of “The Fifth Element,” has been dismissed by a judge following a judicial investigation, according to multiple French media reports.
Besson was accused of rape in 2018 by Dutch-Belgian actress Sand Van Roy, who had accused the director of rape, once in September 2016 in London and once in May 2018 in Paris, accusations which Besson has consistently denied.
A magistrate for the case wrote in her dismissal order that “the elements of the procedure proved insufficient to constitute serious or concordant clues likely to justify the indictment of Luc Besson” and that the investigation was made after the Paris prosecutor’s office had called for the abandonment of the proceedings in early October.
“This dismissal is consistent with the constant position of the Public Prosecutor who requested this dismissal after having already closed the initial preliminary investigation by considering that the accusations against Luc Besson were unfounded” Besson’s lawyer, Thierry Marembert, told Le Parisien. “The investigations clearly establish that the criminal acts of rape were not committed, that the absence of the consent of the civil party has not been established and the existence of a constraint, threat, violence, is also not characterized.”
Van Roy’s lawyer Francis Szpiner also told Le Parisien that they plan to appeal the decision, with Van Roy further taking to Twitter to say she will file a complaint against the magistrate.
“The decision does not surprise us, the examining magistrate has always been in favor of Mr. Besson. I have never seen this in my long career, so little curiosity on the part of an examining magistrate,” Szpiner told Le Parisien. “We will go to the end. We will see what the investigating chamber will do and whether the right to a fair trial has been respected.”