French film producer Juliette Favreul Renaud, a former committee member of France’s Collectif 50/50 gender equality group, was acquitted by a Paris court on Tuesday of charges of sexually assaulting an actress.
Nadège Beausson-Diagne (More Belle La Vie) accused Favreul Renaud of attempting to grope her intimately under her skirt while drunk during a dinner party hosted on the sidelines of a Collectif 50/50 board meeting in March 2022.
There were no witnesses for Beausson-Diagne’s prosecution, but other dinner guests reported seeing the actress in shock.
Favreul-Renaud, whose credits include the Virginie Despentes series Vernon SubutexHe was tried in mid-March of this year on charges of “drunken sexual assault.”
The allegations against him led to the near implosion of Le Collectif 50/50 in April 2022, after the entire board of directors resigned amid infighting over how best to deal with the incident.
The organization, which has played a key role in driving the debate on gender equality and seeking ways to eradicate sexual and physical harassment in the French film world, has since been relaunched under a new management team.
Favreul Renaud denied the charges at his trial in a Paris court in March, while his lawyers Céline Lasek and Fanny Colin called for the proceedings to be dropped, saying the investigation into what happened was “sloppy, unfair and unbalanced”.
The Public Ministry had requested eight months in prison, as well as the criminal care imposed and the prohibition to contact the complainant.
Neither Favreul Renaud nor Beausson-Diagne were present at Tuesday’s acquittal hearing.
