Adèle Haenel’s lawyers react to their client’s anger in “Quotidien”

An act reminiscent of the 2020 César ceremony when the actress also left the room to denounce the nomination of Roman Polanski as best director. “We get up and get out” has since become a slogan in certain feminist movements.

This Monday, the trial of Christophe Ruggia, accused by Adèle Haenel of having sexually assaulted him when she was between 12 and 14 years old, opened before the Paris criminal court. On the second day, the words of the director, then at the helm, angered the actress. “But shut up.”she yelled before leaving the courtroom.

“Five years of proceedings which are incredibly violent for this victim who must sit there and hear the explanations given by this defendant, see the way in which he responds, the way he behaves and the comments he makes. She knows that you have to contain yourself. She took part in the legal game. She did it authentically, like she did everything else and in reality everyone in the room felt that it was rising”tells this evening in “Quotidien” Me Anouck Michelin, lawyer for Adèle Haenel, who is a civil party. 5 years in prison, 2 of which are closed, are required against Christophe Ruggia. The judgment will be delivered on February 3.

He regains control and he sullies his name for the umpteenth time in these two days.

Me Anouck Michelin, lawyer for Adèle Haenel, in “Quotidien”

A specific word triggered the anger of his client. While the profile of Christophe Ruggia is being studied, what the court calls the personality phase, the filmmaker recalled that it was he who advised the actress to choose Haenel as her stage name, “to protect her”. “Of course it made him explode.”assures the lawyer before explaining: “He is regaining control and he is sullying his name for the umpteenth time in these two days”.

A knee-jerk behavior that Mr. Yann Le Bras, who also defends the actress, would like to comment on in Yann Barthès' talk show: “When a child is the victim of sexual assault, the theft of her body, her innocence, her childhood, the pain remains a gaping wound despite the passage of time. And the phases of legal proceedings are phases of violent reminiscences”.

“Sometimes anger breaks out, people fall to the ground. There are sobs, there are people leaving the room. All this happens. So we have to accept that there can be emotion, tears, anger in an audience. That we can get annoyed in the face of rantings”he adds.

SEE ALSO – “It’s a form of radicalism”: Tiphaine Daviot evokes Adèle Haenel’s gesture against French cinema