Overview
- The chambre de l'instruction of the Paris court of appeal refused on Tuesday to reopen the judicial investigation into accusations by actress Sand Van Roy, rejecting a written request that relied on new DNA testing.
- In February the parquet général had argued that analyses by a Dutch laboratory on the plaintiff's underwear could qualify as a legally meaningful 'new element' to justify reopening the inquiry.
- Sand Van Roy's legal team says the tests found the director's DNA on the rear of the garment while Luc Besson and his lawyer maintain the encounters were consensual and point to multiple earlier non-lieu decisions and court confirmations.
- Van Roy's lawyer announced an immediate appeal to the Cour de cassation, so the case remains procedurally active despite the appeal chamber's refusal to reinstate the investigation.
- The core legal dispute hinges on France's narrow standard for reopening cases that requires genuinely new evidence, and the Cour de cassation will decide whether the Dutch DNA results change the evidentiary picture.