UK prosecutors drop indecent assault charges against Harvey Weinstein

They concluded there was no realistic chance of securing a conviction

LONDON:

British prosecutors said on Thursday they had discontinued indecent assault charges against former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein after concluding there was no realistic chance of securing a conviction.

When it authorised charges against Weinstein two years ago, Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said the alleged assault had taken place in August 1996 in London, with police adding the accusation had involved a woman now aged in her 50s.

"Following a review of the evidence in this case, the CPS has decided to discontinue criminal proceedings against Harvey Weinstein," said Frank Ferguson, head of the CPS' Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division.

"The CPS has 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 CPS had explained the decision to all the parties involved.

Weinstein, 72, was found guilty of rape allegations and jailed for 23 years in the United States in 2020 in a milestone for the #MeToo movement, in which women accused hundreds of men in entertainment, media, politics and other fields of sexual misconduct.

However, the New York Court of Appeals threw out the Manhattan conviction in April, finding the Miramax film studio co-founder did not get a fair trial because a judge improperly allowed testimony by accusers he was not formally charged with assaulting. He faces a possible retrial in November.

A court in Los Angeles 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 decision, and he has not begun serving the California sentence.

Weinstein has denied wrongdoing and has denied having non-consensual sexual encounters with anyone.