Christophe Ruggia

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Christophe Ruggia in 2002

French filmmaker Christophe Ruggia has been ordered by a French magistrate to stand trial on charges of sexually assaulting actress Adèle Haenel when she was a minor in the early 2000s.

The Paris trial date is set for December 9 and 10, according to French media reports. Ruggia has denied all charges and his lawyers have yet to comment publicly on the trial. 

Haenel, now 35, filed a complaint against Ruggia in 2019 accusing him of “constant sexual harassment” when she was between 12 and 15 years old and he was in his 30s, which she says included “forced kisses on the neck” and unwanted touching. Ruggia was officially charged in 2020.

In court documents obtained by the AFP, the magistrate called Haenel’s accusations “precise and consistent” and said that the actress had thus suffered “psychological consequences”.

Ruggia directed Haenel in her first film role, 2002’s The Devils. Following the allegations in 2019, Ruggia became the first filmmaker to be ousted from French Directors’ Guild the SRF and has not directed a film since 2011’s Dans La Tourmente. 

Haenel is known for her Cesar award-winning performances in Love At First Fight and The Staple Of News as well as the critically acclaimed 2019 period drama Portrait Of A Lady On Fire. However, the actress announced that she was stepping away from acting in 2022, later explaining to French magazine Télérama that the industry showed a “general complacency of the profession towards sexual aggressors”.

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