ADVERTISEMENT
Rape case against film-maker Besson dropped: SourcesDutch-Belgian actress Sand Van Roy had accused Besson of raping her during a two-year relationship
AFP
Last Updated IST
Representative picture. Credit: iStock Images
Representative picture. Credit: iStock Images

A French magistrate investigating an allegation of rape made against French film director Luc Besson in the wake of the #MeToo movement has closed the case, legal sources told AFP on Thursday.

Dutch-Belgian actress Sand Van Roy had accused Besson — director of the Fifth Element and Leon — of raping her over a two-year on-off relationship and filed a complaint against him in May 2018.

Prosecutors dropped the case in February 2019 citing lack of evidence, but a new investigation was opened later that year after Van Roy brought fresh charges.

ADVERTISEMENT

Van Roy, who had minor roles in Besson's Taxi 5 and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, is one of nine women who have said they were assaulted or harassed by Besson.

He has denied all of the accusations.

Besson has admitted to having a relationship with Van Roy but dismissed her as a "fantasist".

"This case is a lie from A to Z. I did not rape that woman, I have never raped a woman in my life," he told BFMTV in 2019.

Watch the latest DH Videos here:

ADVERTISEMENT
(Published 09 December 2021, 21:53 IST)