• No participation in Oscars for people investigated for sexual violence.
• César Awards announced that it was acting out of respect for any potential victims.
• The Academy will decide whether to make the eligibility requirements permanent.

The 2023 Oscars ceremony in France will not allow anyone who is potentially facing a prison sentence for sexual assault.

Next month’s César Awards announced that it was acting out of respect for any potential victims.

It denotes that French actor Sofiane Bennacer, who is being investigated for alleged rape and denies it, will not be attending the ceremony.

If Mr. Bennacer attended, there had been concerns about protests.

It comes after an outcry in 2020 when Roman Polanski won best director despite being sought in the US for statutory rape.

The César Academy, which hands out the awards, took Mr. Bennacer from the list of nominees in November and announced it was thinking about changing the rules on eligibility.

It has since declared that anyone under investigation for a severe offence carrying a prison sentence, particularly one with a sexual component, will be prohibited from attending this year’s ceremony on February 25.

Anyone who has been convicted of such an offence is likewise subject to the rule.

The Academy will decide whether to make the eligibility requirements permanent.

In a statement, the organisation noted that this included “presumed” victims in incidents that were still under investigation. “Out of respect for the victims… it has been chosen not to emphasise people who may have been accused by the judiciary in acts of violence,” the statement said.

Before police opened an inquiry into claims of rape and sexual abuse, Mr. Bennacer, 25, had been nominated for his part in Les Amandiers, known in other countries as Forever Young.

He disputed the allegations, and Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, the film’s director, claimed he was the target of a “media lynching.”

The actor’s treatment, according to her sister, former French First Lady Carla Bruni, undermines the assumption of innocence.

The Academy is still being held accountable for allegations of sexual assault in the film business.

2020 saw the resignation of the entire board following Mr. Polanski’s nomination for best director. There was a tremendous uproar when he won, and numerous actresses left the ceremony.

Since the 1970s, Mr. Polanski has been sought after in the US for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl. He was sentenced to six weeks in prison in 1977 after admitting to having illicit relations with a child. However, he later left the country out of fear that his plea bargain would be rejected.

He was accused of raping a former model in 1975 by Valentine Monnier in 2019. Mr. Polanski denies the accusation “in the harshest terms,” according to his attorney.

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