French prosecutors decide not to pursue an actress' accusation of sexual assault against the 'Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets' director since they could not fully support the claims.
- Feb 26, 2019
AceShowbiz - French prosecutors have dropped an investigation into rape allegations against filmmaker Luc Besson.
The director was accused of sexually assaulting an actress in a Paris hotel. Besson denied the allegations when they first surfaced last summer (18).
Now, the case has been dropped because prosecutors could not fully support the claims against him.
The "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets" director's lawyer, Thierry Marembert, confirmed the decision on Monday, February 25, stating, "This decision follows a very thorough investigation carried out by judicial police, which he (Besson) fully co-operated with."
Besson was also accused of sexual misconduct by several other women last summer. He vehemently denied all the allegations in a statement issued via his lawyer at the time.
Four unnamed women spoke to French publication Mediapart about their alleged experiences with the moviemaker.
One, a 49-year-old former casting director, claimed she had written to the Paris public prosecutor to denounce his behaviour and alleged in a statement that he had sexually assaulted her.
"Very often, he just arrived and stood behind my back while I was coaching actors and he kissed me on the neck. On other occasions, he forced me to sit on his lap," she alleged. "Very often, Luc Besson asked me, in front of a technician, to give him oral sex, which I refused each time."
"Each time we were taking the elevator together, he forced me to kiss him, putting his tongue in my mouth, and, even though I was pushing him back, he was taking me in his arms and was touching my breasts and bottom."
Another accuser claimed he "jumped" on her and tried to kiss her during an interview in Paris, and a third woman was a former employee of EuropaCorp, the production company co-founded by Besson, who alleged that the 59-year-old forcefully attempted to kiss her and asked her to have sex with him.
