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French filmmaker Jacquot faces judicial probe over rape claims

An examining magistrate is to decide whether to follow the advice of French prosecutors that French filmmaker Benoît Jacquot, 77, should be placed under investigation for the separate rapes and sexual assaults of two actresses who filed complaints against him.

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French prosecutors have requested film director Benoît Jacquot be charged with raping actors Isild Le Besco and Julia Roy, reports The Guardian.

Jacquot, 77, was held for questioning on Monday after actor Judith Godrèche, 52, filed a complaint against him this year for allegedly raping her during a relationship of several years that started when she was 14.

Le Besco, 41, then filed a complaint over alleged rape during a relationship with Jacquot that also started when she was underage, and Roy, 34, accused him of sexual assault.

Jacquot has denied all accusations.

Prosecutors appeared not to request charges against Jacquot linked to Godrèche’s accusations for the time being. But they have asked an examining magistrate to charge him over “rape, sexual assault and violence” allegedly committed against Roy, likely between 2013 and 2018.

Prosecutors additionally sought charges over “rape of a minor by person with authority” and “rape by a partner” allegedly committed against Le Besco, likely between 1998 and 2000, and then in 2007.

They have asked that Jacquot, who spent two nights in custody, be freed but kept under judicial supervision.

Read more of this AFP report published by The Guardian.