French film director sentenced to five years on appeal for abusing child actor

A French court has handed film director Christophe Ruggia a five-year sentence on appeal for the s3xual assault of actress Adèle Haenel when she was a child, in one of the most prominent cases linked to France’s #MeToo movement.

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Ruggia, 61, had previously been convicted of assaulting Haenel in the early 2000s when she was between 12 and 14 years old, while he was in his late 30s. He was initially sentenced to four years in prison in 2025, with part of the term to be served under electronic monitoring.

In its latest ruling, the Paris appeals court increased the sentence to five years, with three years suspended. Ruggia will still serve two years under electronic bracelet supervision.

Haenel, now 37, was among the first high-profile figures in France’s film industry to publicly accuse it of ignoring s3xual abuse. Her allegations helped galvanise the country’s response to the global #MeToo movement.

The case centres on the period during and after the filming of The Devils (2002), directed by Ruggia, which marked Haenel’s first screen role. Investigators previously reported that members of the film crew had expressed discomfort with the director’s behaviour on set.

According to testimony presented in court, Haenel made regular visits to Ruggia between 2001 and 2004, during which she accused him of inappropriate physical contact, including touching intimate parts of her body.

The appeals court described the acts as “extremely serious,” highlighting the victim’s age and stating that the abuse had a “proven impact” on her mental health.

The case has been widely seen as a landmark moment in holding influential figures in France’s film industry accountable for misconduct involving minors.