Former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was found guilty on Monday December 19 of rape and two sexual assaults at the end of his trial in Los Angeles. These are almost half of the counts for which he was prosecuted by four women. The first charges against him were one of the trigger points for the #MeToo movement, in October 2017.
After two weeks of deliberation, the jurors found him guilty of all the charges brought by the first of the four accusers. They found him not guilty on the charges of a second woman, and did not issue a verdict on the allegations made by the other two.
The old ” King of the 70-year-old cinema, which has produced major award-winning hits such as pulp Fiction Where The Artisthas already sentenced in New York in 2020 to 23 years in prison for similar facts.
During this new trial, four women testifying anonymously accused the producer in great detail of forcing them to have sex in hotels in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles between 2004 and 2013. A fifth ultimately refused to testify.
After weeks of harrowing hearings, often interrupted by sobbing plaintiffs, the prosecution has painted Harvey Weinstein as an all-powerful ogre, whose stranglehold on Hollywood – films he produced have received more than 330 Oscar nominations and 81 statuettes – has long prevented its victims from speaking. This for fear of repercussions on their career.
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(With AFP)