A French court on Friday handed film director Christophe Ruggia a five-year sentence on appeal for sexually assaulting an actor when she was a child in one of the key trials of France’s #Metoo movement.
Ruggia, 61, had already been found guilty last year of assaulting Adele Haenel, now 37, in the early 2000s when she was between 12 and 14 and he was in his late 30s.
And he was originally given a four-year sentence and ordered to wear an electronic bracelet for two years in February 2025.
But a court of appeal in Paris on Friday extended the overall sentence to five years, including three suspended. And Ruggia will still have to serve two years with an electronic bracelet.
Haenel, who starred in the 2019 drama “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” before quitting cinema, was the first prominent actor to accuse the French film industry of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse.
Ruggia directed Haenel in the 2002 movie “The Devils”, the tale of an incestuous relationship between a boy and his autistic sister. It was her first film role.
The film contains sex scenes between the children and close-ups of Haenel’s naked body.
Investigators had said before the trial that members of the film crew had told them of their “unease” with Ruggia’s behaviour on set.
Between 2001 and 2004, after shooting the film, the teenager went to see Ruggia nearly every Saturday.
During these visits, she has accused him of caressing her thighs and touching her genitals and breasts.
The court of appeal said the acts were “extremely serious” against a pre-teen girl and had had a “proven impact on the mental health” of Haenel.
