The 2020 rape conviction of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein has been overturned after New York's highest court ruled that his right to a fair trial had been violated.
The Court of Appeal found that the prosecution had the opportunity to call witnesses whose accusations were not part of the indictment against Weinstein.
This means that he was tried for previous actions as well, and not only for what was stated in the indictment, according to the latest verdict.
Weinstein, who is 72, will remain in prison after being convicted of rape in a separate trial.
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On Tuesday, the New York court made a decision with four votes in favor of overturning the previous verdict, while three were against.
The statement states that during the previous trial, "a mistake was made that testimony about alleged previous sexual acts, which were not included in the lawsuit, was allowed."
"The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial," it added.
One of the judges who voted against overturning the verdict pointed out that with the court's decision "we continue to minimize the great progress of the struggle of those who survived the sexual settlement within our judicial system".
The first allegations against Weinstein surfaced in 2017 and spurred the creation of a movement #MeToo, which contributed to exposing sexual abuse at the highest levels in the Hollywood film industry and beyond.
The producer faced two trials.
First in New York, where she was sentenced to 23 years in prison in 2020 for raping two women, while in California he was sentenced to 16 years in prison for raping a woman in a Beverly Hills hotel.
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