The septuagenarian, convicted of multiple sexual assaults, suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and spinal stenosis, according to a statement from his lawyer.
Fallen Hollywood king Harvey Weinstein was rushed to a hospital for emergency heart surgery in New York, where the 72-year-old former producer is being held in jail awaiting a retrial in November on rape and sexual assault charges, ABC News reported Monday.
“Mr. Weinstein was rushed to Bellevue Hospital last night due to numerous medical symptoms.”indicated in a press release obtained by the channel, its communicators who have “confirmed heart intervention and surgery”but without saying more. The former American producer had already been hospitalized at the end of April in New York, just after the resounding cancellation of a first conviction in 2020 for rape.
His representatives stressed that their client was suffering from “plethora of significant health issues that require medical monitoring” while the septuagenarian is incarcerated in the famous Rikers Island prison in New York. He must attend a new procedural hearing on Thursday before a city court after the Manhattan federal prosecutor presented new evidence of sexual assaults in the 2000s to a grand jury – citizens who participate in the investigation phase with the prosecutor – in early September. Harvey Weinstein could thus be charged once again at the end of the week.
Also readWeinstein case: New York appeals court overturns former film producer’s rape conviction
Physically diminished
A hearing in July in New York, during which he appeared physically diminished and pushed in a wheelchair, set a new trial for November 12. Harvey Weinstein had benefited in late April from a ruling by a New York appeals court overturning his 2020 conviction for the 2013 rape of an actress, Jessica Mann, and the 2006 sexual assault of a production assistant, Mimi Haleyi.
A turnaround experienced as an affront and a step backwards for the #MeToo movement, launched with the Weinstein affair, against sexual and sexist violence against women. The revelations in 2017 about the sexual assaults of the former boss of Miramax had triggered a global shockwave and freed the speech of many victims. More than 80 women accused him of harassment, sexual assault or rape, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd. Harvey Weinstein has always maintained that sexual relations were consensual. Despite the cancellation of the New York verdict, he is detained due to a conviction in 2023 in Los Angeles to 16 years in prison for other cases of rape and sexual assault.
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