Prosecutor seeks prison sentence for director Christophe Ruggia in trial for assaulting Adèle Haenel

“This hearing must remind us of the forbidden, who was the adult, who was the child, it must set the world straight.” It was with these words that prosecutor Camille Poch requested, on Tuesday, December 10, a five-year prison sentence, two of which would be under house arrest, for Christophe Ruggia. The filmmaker is on trial for sexually assaulting Adèle Haenel when she was between the ages of 12 and 14.

At the end of two days of often tense hearings, in a packed courtroom at the Paris Criminal Court, the prosecutor highlighted Haenel’s “constant, coherent and clear discourse” as she traced the thread of the director’s “progressive hold” on her, from the filming of The Devils (The Devils) in 2001, to the hundred or so Saturday afternoons she spent at Ruggia’s home until February 2004. As for the director, “he had the conscience of an adult to act differently,” Poch insisted.

Since Monday, Haenel, her face closed, posture stiff and fists clenched, had been visibly containing her anger. She finally exploded, in chilling fashion, early Tuesday afternoon. “Shut up!” she shouted at the director before leaving the courtroom for a few minutes. Anouck Michelin, one of her lawyers, said she had an explanation: “Mr. Ruggia, you made her lose her temper her because you soiled a child. You hammered that diamond like a bad craftsman. The only thing is, a diamond resists. That was the hardest part for you. She didn’t want your love, your adulation or your hands. You will forever be the growth accident of a rough diamond.”

A difficult shoot

This highly anticipated trial, emblematic of the #MeToo movement, would not have taken place without Haenel’s investigation and interview published in November 2019 by investigation site Mediapart. “This article is a Stalinist trial that destroyed my life, there had to be a #MeToo in France and it fell on me,” fulminated Ruggia. The actress, who has won two Césars, had chosen to “break the silence.” She accused the director of “inappropriate touching” and “sexual harassment.”

It was Haenel’s first film. She was 12, Ruggia 36. Following Mediapart’s revelations, the Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation for “sexual assault” on a minor under the age of 15 “by a person in authority.” Haenel, who initially refused to go to court, eventually filed a complaint.

“Much has been written about this affair. But just because Adèle Haenel has found strong words to say to victims doesn’t mean we shouldn’t interrogate the compelling accusations against Christophe Ruggia,” stressed Orly Rezlan, one of the two defense lawyers. “However, in a letter she wrote to the director in 2014, the actress does not describe any gesture that would have a sexual ambiguity. The first time she talks about him touching her breasts is at the end of November 2019 in front of investigators.”

You have 56.27% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.