French filmmaker Luc Besson is definitively cleared of rape five years after actress first accused him of attacking her during their two-year relationship

• Actress Sand Van Roy accused The Fifth Element director Besson of raping her
• Prosecutors first dropped the case in February 2019 citing lack of evidence 

French filmmaker Luc Besson has been definitively cleared of rape five years after actress Sand Van Roy first accused him of attacking her during their relationship.  

France’s top appeals court on Wednesday rejected a request to reopen a rape claim against the film director, ending one of the most high-profile cases to emerge in the country’s MeToo movement against sexual assault.

Dutch-Belgian actress Sand Van Roy accused Besson, director of The Fifth Element and Leon – of raping her during 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, and after new charges were filed by Van Roy, an appeals court also closed that case in May last year.

In a ruling seen by AFP, the Cour de Cassation, the court of last resort for criminal cases, said there was ‘no reason to justify pursuing an appeal’ of the previous rulings.

French filmmaker Luc Besson (pictured in 2018) has been definitively cleared of rape five years after actress Sand Van Roy first accused him of attacking her during their relationship

Dutch-Belgian actress Sand Van Roy (pictured in 2019) accused Besson, director of The Fifth Element and Leon – of raping her during a two-year on-off relationship

‘The Cour de Cassation has decided not to hear my appeal, which means once again the French judiciary refuses to examine the evidence in this case,’ Van Roy said on Twitter.

‘I will pursue these cases and will file a request with the European Court of Human Rights,’ she said.

A lawyer for Besson, who has denied the claims, said the decision ‘ends all the procedures of the past five years, which have found him not guilty’.

Besson has admitted having a relationship with Van Roy, who had minor roles in his films Taxi 5 and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.

She filed the initial complaint for rape in May 2018 hours after meeting Besson, before filing another complaint two months later for other alleged rapes and sexual assaults.

At least three other women have made allegations of sexual harassment against Besson, which he has also denied.

The actress today tweeted that she would be filing a request with the European Court of Human Rights following the ruling

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