The Paris Court of Appeal confirmed on Wednesday December 4, 2024 the acquittal of Roman Polanski, who was accused of defamation by Charlotte Lewis.
British actress Charlotte Lewis on Wednesday lost on appeal the defamation lawsuit she filed against director Roman Polanski for calling her a liar when she accused him of rape.
The Paris Court of Appeal “confirmed the judgment undertaken” in first instance, which acquitted the 91-year-old filmmaker last May, who was also accused of sexual assault and rape by several women.
She appealed
Ms Lewis appealed the criminal court's judgment. But the prosecution not having done so on its side, the acquittal on the criminal level had become definitive. The court of appeal had to say whether the director was still guilty of “civil wrong” and as such had to pay him damages. The court ultimately considered that there was no civil fault.
“It’s a decision that is very questionable because it offers Roman Polanski a form of media license to kill”commented to AFP Ms. Lewis' lawyer, Me Benjamin Chouai. “He has the right to defame, to discredit, to smear, he will surely continue to do so against Charlotte Lewis but also surely against other women”he added, indicating that he was going to take stock with his client, who was absent when the decision was announced, to possibly appeal to the Court of Cassation.
Abusive use of freedom of expression?
In this case, justice was not to determine whether or not Roman Polanski had raped the British actress but only whether or not the filmmaker had made abusive use of his freedom of expression in an interview published by Paris Match in December 2019.
Asked in this article about the accusations against him, the director of “Rosemary’s Baby” replied: “The first quality of a good liar is an excellent memory. Charlotte Lewis is always mentioned in the list of my accusers without ever pointing out her contradictions“.
In 2010, during a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival, Charlotte Lewis recounted having been attacked during a casting organized at Roman Polanski's house in Paris in 1983, when she was 16 years old.
