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Directeur de la publication : Edwy Plenel

www.mediapart.fr
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The 31-year-old actress accuses the filmmaker of


having raped her on several occasions. She described
Prosecutors to rule over rape claims
to detectives two years of being under what she has
against French film director Luc Besson called a “hold”, of fear, of clashes and sudden changes,
PAR MARINE TURCHI
ARTICLE PUBLIÉ LE DIMANCHE 13 JANVIER 2019 leading to the night of the 17th to 18th of May, 2018,
at Le Bristol Hotel in Paris (read her story here).
The day after this night in the Paris hotel the actress
made a formal complaint of rape against the French
director and producer. This was followed by a second
complaint made on July 6th alleging other rapes. The
actress was interviewed twice by detectives.
The bruise to her left eye and the three marks on the
back of actress Sand Van Roy. © Documents Mediapart
During that night in May at the Bristol Hotel Sand
Van Roy says she passed out twice, during and
A file on the preliminary investigations by detectives
after sexual relations. Contrary to what many media
into allegations of rape against celebrated French
outlets initially stated, she has never told the police
film director Luc Besson has been handed to state
that she was drugged (see Mediapart's article here).
prosecutors in Paris who are now analysing it. Among
Toxicology reports apparently show no traces of
the elements that police officers have examined are
drugs.
a series of photographs of the complainant, Belgian-
Dutch actress Sand Van Roy, and a report from However, the actress told detectives that after sex she
medical forensic experts confirming the presence of fell in the hotel room's bathroom having felt an impact
unexplained injuries on her body. Besson strongly “in the back”; she says she does not know what caused
denies the claims. Marine Turchi reports. this impact.
According to Mediapart's information the preliminary When she went to the police station in Paris on May
investigation started in May 2018 to examine rape 18th several marks on her body – in particular a bruise
allegations against French film director Luc Besson to her left eye and three symmetric marks on her back
has now been completed and a file handed to the - were noted immediately afterwards by the medical
prosecutors' office in Paris. Prosecutors must now forensic unit at the Hôtel-Dieu hospital in Paris.
decide what happens next: they could take no further A series of photographs taken by Sand Van Roy and
action and drop the case, order additional enquiries or those close to her in the days following that night at
order a full judge-led investigation. the Bristol, and sent to the police on May 19th, also
Besson, 59, the celebrated producer and director confirm the presence of these marks. Today, seven
behind blockbuster films that include 'Nikita', ‘The
Big Blue’, 'Leon', ‘The Fifth Element’ and 'Lucy', and
who strongly denies the claims, was questioned by
detectives in October 2018 and took part in a face-to-
face encounter with the complainant, Belgian-Dutch
actress Sand Van Roy, with the police on December
11th. Among the information and evidence that have
been examined by detectives have been photographs
and a report from medical forensic experts confirming
the presence of marks on the complainant's body.

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Directeur de la publication : Edwy Plenel
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months after the events of that night, the young woman eye on May 18th, around 10.45am, during our video
still bears the scars of the three marks on her back, conversation on Facetime. My daughter was in a state
according to another photograph seen by Mediapart. of shock, she hadn't noticed it,” recalls Henriette Van
der Pas.
“When I met Sand, on the evening of May 18th in
Paris, she had a black eye and several kinds of bruises
on her back, along her spinal column. Indeed, I took
several photos,” recalls Wilfried Capet. “However, the
day before [editor's note, May 17th] at Cannes, where
we were together for the [film] festival, before she left
for Paris, she had nothing at all. There were five of us
in a small studio flat, we'd have noticed if she had such
marks,” he insists.
As for Luc Besson, he insists that he had not
noticed anything that evening. That was what he told
The bruise to the left eye of actress Sand Van Roy.Photo
taken by herself May 20th 2018. © Document Mediapart detectives during the face to face with the actress when
they asked him if he had noticed anything on Sand Van
Roy's face at the Bristol. The filmmaker explained that
the lights were subdued and that he was tired.
When detectives pointed to the report by the medical
forensic experts and the presence, in particular, of the
bruise to her eye, the director continued to maintain
that he had seen nothing. “He said he noticed nothing
on her face,” his lawyer Thierry Marembert confirmed
to news agency AFP. Luc Besson also denied that
the complainant passed out several times that evening.
More generally he rejected all the accusations made
by Sand Van Roy and explained that he had had a
relationship with her for two years.
The three marks on the back of actress Sand Van Roy. Photo taken by
her friend Wilfried Capet, May 19th 2018. © Document Mediapart
How can these marks be explained? Are they the
consequences of that night spent at the Bristol with
Luc Besson? The actress herself has told Mediapart
she ascribes them to her fall in the hotel room
bathroom – the “blow in the back” that she felt and the
“impact of the floor”. She says that after that evening
she also felt “pain” in several places on her body.
Two people close to her – her mother, Henriette Van
der Pas, a doctor in Belgium, and her best friend,
the actor and scriptwriter Wilfried Capet – have told
Mediapart that they saw these injuries the day after
the night at the Bristol. “I noticed a bruise to her left

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Directeur de la publication : Edwy Plenel
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The justice system will now have to unravel these two hearts to him by text. On the other they also heard her
flatly contradictory versions of events and decide on say that she could not take it any more, that she was
the origin of those injuries. suffering and they saw her in a state of “anguish”.
On May 17th 2018, just a few hours before going
to the Bristol hotel in Paris, she left Wilfried Cape
the following voice message, which Mediapart has
listened to. “If I don’t go, he’s gonna be so mad, and
I’m gonna have to pay for it, and I’m gonna regret it
… He has conditioned me to behave in a certain way.”
On the WhatsAp message system she wrote in English:
Luc Besson at the 69th Cannes film festival May “I don’t know how I’m gonna have sex with him if I
20th 2016. He denies the rape claims. © Reuters
don’t drink myself to the point where I no longer feel
Apart from the photographs, Sand Van Roy has sent
pain,” A few hours earlier, however, she had messaged
detectives a series of documents - written messages
Besson with a heart symbol.
and vocal exchanges with those close to her and
with Luc Besson, bills, train tickets and so on – in “He called every day, sent hearts by SMS, while
support of her story. Among them is a report from her inflicting violence and humiliation. I was living in a
psychiatrist, which has been seen by Mediapart. The state of confusion. I said to him what he wanted to
actress told Mediapart that she spoke to this doctor - hear, out of fear of reprisals,” the actress explained.
whom she has been consulting since March 19th 2018 Sand Van Roy thinks that she became the producer's
- about the “humiliations” she says she suffered at the “puppet”. She said: “He transformed me into what he
hands of the film-maker, and did so several weeks wanted me to be. He made me a blonde, made me
before she made her first formal complaint. speak in this voice [editor's note, a child's voice], put
on dresses, lose weight.” During the course of just
In his report, dated December 14th 2018, the
over two years she says the director made her have
psychiatrist confirms that the young woman had been
unprotected sex several times, and also take part in
under his supervision for “several months” and states
practices which “disgusted” her, she told Mediapart.
that she had described to him being “under the
influence of a known cinema director who subjected However, speaking on RMC radio on May 20th
her to violence and humiliations”. He attested to the following Van Roy’s rape complaint, Besson's
actress's “state of great anxiety” at the time. lawyer Thierry Marembert described the actress's
“accusations” as “crazy” and said his client had “fallen
Those close to the actress say that they saw her
off his chair when he learned about them”. The
“change” during the months leading up to the
director “categorically denies any inappropriate and
complaint in May, and say they witnessed her fall
reprehensible behaviour of any kind”, said the lawyer.
under the “control” of the famous director and
Mr Marembert said his client knew this young woman
producer, as Mediapart has previously described. Her
“like he knows just about everyone in the world of
mother spoke of a spiral of “manipulation” and “lies”.
cinema” and that “he has never raped her or anyone
Her best friend, Wilfried Capet - to whom the actress
else”.
described in March 2017 what he calls the “sexual
abuse” that she has now reported to the police – told Since then Luc Besson and his lawyer have remained
Mediapart how she “felt under an influence”. The silent. Though they have been approached for a
actress caused bewilderment among those close to her. comment many times by Mediapart since July last
On the one hand they saw her submissive, calling Luc year, they have not responded. “The subjects you
Besson “my heart, my love”, and sometimes sending mention are the object of an ongoing investigation,”
Mr Marembert told Mediapart last July. “You will

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Directeur de la publication : Edwy Plenel
www.mediapart.fr
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therefore understand that Mr Besson is keeping his behaviour by Luc Besson towards young women
answers for the investigators to whom he has made working or likely to work with him. A number of them
himself available in order for his innocence to be say they feared the professional consequences – the
proven.” fear of losing their job, of being “blacklisted” of being
Meanwhile Sand Van Roy's lawyer, Carine Durrieu- “cut out of [films] during editing” for example – if they
Diebolt, criticised the “completely incoherent version” reported the director's attitude.
of events given by Luc Besson. She told Mediapart that At the heart of this case is the position of considerable
the film-maker had been “put in a difficult position” power that Luc Besson occupies in a sector that
by detectives during the face to face meeting with is competitive and precarious for many actors and
the actress by the issue of her client's “bruise in the actresses. The results of the initial police investigation
corner of the eye” which was, she said, “perfectly into the claims against Luc Besson, who benefits
visible”. Carine Durrieu-Diebolt also said that while from the presumption of innocence, are now being
Besson had told the police that he had had a “perfectly examined by prosecutors.
harmonious relationship” with Sand Van Roy, he has Meanwhile the accusations against the filmmaker have
“not been able to explain the complainant's exchanges had a economic impact on his production company
with some of those close to her, several weeks before EuropaCorp, which already faced financial difficulties
the complaint, which clearly mention instances of (read Mediapart's article in French here). According
rape. These pieces of information are only logical if to its latest financial report, published in December
the reported facts are acknowledged,” says the lawyer. 2018, the business posted loses of 101 million dollars
Since July 2018 Mediapart has published the accounts in its half-year results. The company is having to close
of nine women accusing Luc Besson of sexually its distribution department and has no more films in
inappropriate behaviour (see the two accounts here production.
and here). Four of them have told their stories to According to Mediapart's information, the release of
detectives as part of the current investigation. the next film, 'Anna', in the United States by distributor
In addition to Sand Van Roy, Amandine - not her real Lionsgate is still on hold. In France the film was
name – a former casting director who worked with Luc supposed to have come out on January 2nd, was then
Besson between 2002 and 2005, wrote in July 2018 pushed back to March 27th and according to specialist
to the state prosecutor in Paris to report acts that she industry publication Satellifax, it currently has no
described as “sexual assaults”. She was interviewed by release date.
police on September 13th. -----------------------------------------------------------------------
In July last year Laura, not her real name, a former • The French version of this article can be found here.
student at the Cité du Cinema film school, reported to English version by Michael Streeter
police that she considered she had been the victim of
“sexual harassment” which she says she was subjected Boite noire
to in 2016 during the shooting of the film 'Valerian and This report is the latest in a lengthy investigation
the City of a Thousand Planets'. Finally, on December into the accusations targeting Luc Besson (see more
18th 2018 the former model Karine Isambert told the here and here), during which Mediapart has met with
investigators of events dating back to 1995 (see her numerous men and women who have either worked
account in Mediapart's broadcast here). with the filmmaker or who have been acquainted with
While these nine women report acts of different him.
seriousness, their accounts corroborate each other on Luc Besson and his lawyer Thierry Marembert have
several points. The majority describe what are, at been asked for their reaction on many occasions since
the very least, inappropriate, similar and repeated July 2018 and have always refused to comment. For

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Directeur de la publication : Edwy Plenel
www.mediapart.fr
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this latest article Mediapart sent new questions by email on January 3rd but despite the questions being
resent on a number of occasions there has been no
response.

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