French Director Christophe Ruggia Sentenced to Five Years for Sexual Assault of Minor Adèle Haenel

French filmmaker Christophe Ruggia received a five-year prison sentence on Friday for sexually assaulting actress Adèle Haenel when she was a minor. The 61-year-old director will serve only two years of this term, which may be completed under house arrest. This latest judgment increases the penalty from an initial four-year sentence handed down in February 2025, which also included two years suspended. Prosecutors had sought three years of actual imprisonment under house arrest. Ruggia has consistently denied the allegations since Haenel first came forward in 2019. He retains the right to appeal this verdict to the Supreme Court. The case represents a significant legal development in France's reckoning with sexual misconduct in the film industry.