Telegraph e-paper

Bruni defends star of sister’s film after rape allegations

By Henry Samuel

CARLA BRUNI, the former French first lady, leapt to the defence of an actor who stars in her film director sister’s new movie, claiming he had been victimised” by French media after being accused of rape.

In the latest #Metoo scandal to rock French cinema, the 54-year-old singer and wife of former president Nicolas Sarkozy, said the French media had trampled on the actor’s right to the presumption of innocence. Her sister Valeria Bruni-tedeschi’s movie, about a group of promiscuous drama students in the 1980s, Les Amandiers (Forever Young), is a domestic box office hit.

But its star, Sofiane Bennacer, 25 – who is also said to be the director’s boyfriend – has been the subject of four accusations of sexual harassment and rape. He denies any wrongdoing.

The claims refer to events that allegedly took place in 2018 and 2019 in Mulhouse and Strasbourg, eastern France, and Paris. They prompted the Césars Academy, the French equivalent of the Oscars, to rule out Mr Bennacer as candidate for a forthcoming best actor award.

On Thursday, Liberation, a Left-wing newspaper, published the claims of several women who said they had been assaulted by Mr Bennacer.

Ms Bruni-tedeschi yesterday denounced the report as a “media lynching” and her sister jumped to Mr Bennacer’s defence on Instagram, saying: “We do not relieve the pain of victims by creating new victims in a wild and random way and just as unfairly.”

Ms Bruni accused Liberation of flouting the presumption of innocence, “one of the foundations of our democracy”.

World News

en-gb

2022-11-26T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-11-26T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://dailytelegraph.pressreader.com/article/282011856370168

Daily Telegraph