British prosecutors said on Thursday they had dropped indecent assault charges against former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein after concluding there was no realistic chance of securing a conviction.
When it authorized charges against Weinstein two years ago, Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service said the alleged crime took place in August 1996 in London, and police added that the allegation involved a woman who is now in her 50s.
“Following an analysis of the evidence in this case, the CPS has decided to suspend the criminal prosecution of Harvey Weinstein,” said Frank Ferguson, head of the UK prosecutor’s Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division.
“We have a duty to keep all cases under continuous review and we have decided that there is no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.”
Ferguson said the prosecutor’s office explained the decision to all parties involved.
Weinstein, 72, was found guilty of rape charges and sentenced to 23 years in prison in the United States in 2020, a milestone for the #MeToo movement in which women have accused hundreds of men in entertainment, media, politics and other fields of sexual misconduct.
However, the New York Court of Appeals threw out the conviction in April, finding that the Miramax film studio co-founder did not receive a fair trial because a judge improperly allowed testimony from victims he was not formally charged with assaulting. He faces a possible retrial in November.
A Los Angeles court in 2022 also convicted him of raping an actress in the city, and he was sentenced to 16 years in prison. That conviction was not affected by the New York court’s ruling, and he has yet to begin serving his sentence in California.
Weinstein has denied any wrongdoing and denied having non-consensual sexual encounters with anyone.
This content was originally published in British prosecutors drop charges against Harvey Weinstein on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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