Paris (AFP)

The Society of Film Directors (SRF) announced Monday that it has decided to remove from its members director Christophe Ruggia, after accusations of "touching" and "sexual harassment" of the actress Adèle Haenel while she was old from 12 to 15 years old.

"Following the investigation published in Mediapart, the SRF expresses its total support, admiration and gratitude to the actress Adèle Haenel, who has had the courage to speak after so many years of silence. that we believe it and that we take note immediately, without shirking our own responsibility, "said the SRF in a statement.

"Today we launched Christophe Ruggia's delisting from the SRF", adds this professional association of filmmakers, which has some 300 members. Co-chaired by directors Bertrand Bonello, Catherine Corsini and Aude Léa Rapin, the SRF also has Jacques Audiard, Pierre Salvadori or Céline Sciamma on its board of directors. Christophe Ruggia, 54, director of the films "Le Gone du Chaâba" or "Les Diables", was several times the co-president or vice-president between 2003 and 2019.

In a long survey published Sunday by Mediapart, the 30-year-old French actress, awarded by two Cesar, including the best actress in 2015 for "Les Combattants", accuses Christophe Ruggia, with whom she shot her first film "Les Diables "touching" and "sexual harassment" when she was 12 to 15 years old.

The director replied through his lawyers that he "categorically refuted having harassed or any kind of touching on this then minor girl".

"That there is an involuntary grip of the adult, director, it is likely", but "it categorically denies touching and sexual harassment," reiterated to AFP Monday his lawyer Jean-Pierre Versini .

"I am shocked that he is insane," said Adèle Haenel Monday evening in a live broadcast broadcast by the site of Mediapart. "I am even more shocked by the fact that he says he has + discovery + (as actress Editor), because in fact, it has mostly destroyed me," she added.

"It's been 17 years, it's an ultra long journey," she said. "The world has changed, and that's why I also speak because I have to be able to talk to everyone who has spoken in the #MeToo business and made me change my perspective. on what I had lived and so I would like to contribute to that. "

© 2019 AFP