LOS ANGELES - (AFP) - A new trial of former film producer Harvey Weinstein on charges of rape and sexual assault began Monday in Los Angeles, as the process of selecting the jury in the court hearing this case began, after the New York judiciary had previously confirmed Dan Weinstein in a file. similar.

The 70-year-old producer of “Pulp Fiction” is serving a 23-year prison sentence issued against him in 2020 for sexual assault and rape in New York.

The new trial almost coincides with the fifth anniversary of the launch of the "Me Too" movement, which sparked the disclosure of his sexual abuse.

Weinstein appeared in a Los Angeles court on Monday in a wheelchair, dressed in a dark blue suit and a light blue tie.
It is expected that the jury selection process, which began on Monday under the supervision of Judge Lisa Lynch, will take a full week, the first of this two-month trial.

In the new trial, Weinstein faces accusations from five women who raped or sexually assaulted them in hotels between 2004 and 2013.

In the event that the former Hollywood mogul, who has denied all charges against him, is convicted, he may be sentenced to more than 100 additional years behind bars.

The verdict issued in New York convicting Weinstein in March 2020 and imprisoning him immediately, and the response of the US judiciary to appeal in this regard, was a major victory for the “Me Too” movement.

In all, about 90 women, including stars Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rosanna Arquette, have accused former producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment or assault. However, a number of these incidents, some of which date back to 1977, have expired.
Weinstein is also accused in the UK of committing sexual assaults dating back to 1996.

And the Los Angeles Times revealed that Sybil Newsom, the wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom, who belongs to the Democratic Party, will be among the five plaintiffs against Weinstein in Los Angeles, who will all testify under the pseudonym "Jane Doe".

Newsom's attorney, Elizabeth Feigan, was quoted as saying that her client, "like many other women, was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein during an alleged business meeting that turned out to be a trap."

She added that she "intends to testify during her trial in order to obtain some form of justice for the victims and improve conditions for women." Sybil Newsom, a film producer, previously addressed Weinstein's behavior in an article published in 2017, but she did not go into details of the assaults she spoke about.

Weinstein's attorney, Mark Werksman, told the same newspaper that well-known personalities who participated in "movies and advertisements" will testify at the trial.

The former producer was constantly asserting that sexual relations with the women who were prosecuting him were taking place with their consent.

Werksman told the media in July 2021 that the allegations were "unproven, unfounded and unfounded," stressing that there was no medical-legal evidence or reliable witness to prove them.

Weinstein's new trial also coincides with the premiere of "She Said," which will be held next week at the New York Film Festival, and deals with the New York Times reporter's investigation into Weinstein's sexual assaults.
Before his fall, Weinstein had great influence in Hollywood. At the end of the seventies of the last century, he founded the “Miramax” production company with his brother, and it was sold to “Disney” in 1993, and then they launched “The Weinstein Company”, which achieved great successes, including the movie “Inglourious Basterds” by American director Quentin Tarantino.
Weinstein's films have received more than 300 Academy Award nominations over the years, of which he has won 81.