Director Christophe Ruggia will appear in court for sexual assaults committed when Adèle Haenel was still a minor.
Christophe Ruggia will be tried on December 9 and 10 before the Paris Criminal Court for aggravated sexual assault committed on actress Adèle Haenel when she was a minor, reports BFMTVThe magistrate highlighted the “detailed, constant and precise” denunciations of the 35-year-old actress, “her state of shock” at the time of the events, in addition to the “psychological repercussions” of the attacks and “the significant age difference between the two protagonists”, which gave rise to “the occurrence of progressive psychological constraint” imposed by the director.
The investigating judge noted two aggravating circumstances: the actress’s minority at the time of the events, and Christophe Ruggia’s position of authority. The facts that will be brought up during the trial span from September 2001 to February 2004: Adele Haenel was then aged 12 to 15.
Christophe Ruggia had pleaded “a misunderstanding”
In 2019, Adèle Haenel accused the director for whom she had filmed in Devils in 2001 of having committed sexual assaults on her, from the age of 12 to 15. She had filed a complaint immediately afterwards. At the time, in Médiapart, she denounced “groping” and “permanent sexual harassment”, in a controlling relationship that Christophe Ruggia allegedly exercised between 2001 and 2004. In a right of reply, Christophe Ruggia had pleaded “a misunderstanding while acknowledging having “made the mistake of playing the Pygmalion” with the actress. He denies any sexual assault on Adèle Haenel.