A French appeals court has confirmed the acquittal of Franco-Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski in a defamation case, in which British actor Charlotte Lewis accused him of libel after she claimed he had raped her.
The Paris court on Wednesday confirmed the ruling of a lower court in May, which found 91-year-old Polanski not guilty of defaming Lewis, 57, who alleges he raped her in Paris in 1983.
The verdict handed down in May – which Lewis appealed – related strictly to the charge of defamation, and not to Lewis's accusation of rape against Polanski.
The appeals court also decided that Polanski had not committed a breach of civil duty and therefore did not owe Lewis any damages.
Polanski did not attend any of the hearings.
Lewis's lawyer Benjamin Chouai described the ruling as "very questionable". He added: "It gives Roman Polanski a sort of licence to kill via the media. He is being allowed to defame, discredit, tarnish. He will likely continue to do this against Charlotte Lewis, but also the other women."
'Freedom of expression'
Meanwhile Polanski's lawyer, Delphine Meillet, said the final acquittal was "very satisfying". "It's a great day for freedom of expression as it has again been confirmed that that when you are accused in the press you can defend yourself in the press," she said.
In March, Lewis said she became the victim of a "smear campaign" that "nearly destroyed" her life after she spoke up about the alleged assault.
Defamation charge
In 2010, Lewis accused Polanski of abusing her "in the worst possible way" as a 16-year-old in 1983 in Paris, after she travelled there for a casting session.
Polanski retorted that this was a "heinous lie" in a 2019 conversation with Paris Match magazine.
According to the magazine, he pulled out a copy of a 1999 article from the British tabloid newspaper News of the World, and quoted Lewis as saying in it: "I wanted to be his lover."
Lewis maintains that the quotes attributed to her in that interview were not accurate.
She filed a complaint for defamation, and the film director was automatically charged under French law.
US lawsuit
Polanski is wanted in the United States over the rape of a 13-year-old in 1977.
The case went to trial, but he fled to Europe in 1978 before a verdict was pronounced. Switzerland, France and Poland have refused to extradite Polanski to the United States.
He also faces several other accusations of sexual assault dating back decades and past the statute of limitations.
Between 2017 and 2019, four other women came forward with claims that Polanski also abused them in the 1970s – three of them as minors. Polanski has denied all the allegations.
He will, however, face a civil trial over the alleged 1973 rape of a minor in Los Angeles in August next year.
The civil suit was filed in June 2023, just before the expiration of a California law that allowed for an extended window for claims against the alleged perpetrators of sexual crimes.
