Guest director of Dutch opera won't be prosecuted for groping dancer, court confirms
The Public Prosecution Service (OM) does not have to prosecute Andriy Zholdak for groping a dancer while guest directing the opera Fidelio for the Dutch National Opera, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal ruled in an Article 12 procedure filed by the dancer. According to the court, there is no evidence that Zholdak groped her buttocks in a sexual context, Parool reports based on the ruling.
Fidelio was performed at the National Opera in June 2024. According to Parool, the opera was marred by transgressive behavior by the Ukrainian director Zholdak. People involved accused him of being authoritarian, impulsive, and misogynistic. Among other things, he told a woman at the audition that she had “small breasts,” forced soloists and extras to be in the rehearsal room for six hours, five days a week, without toilet breaks, and ordered an extra to act out a blowjob scene that wasn’t part of the script 15 times.
His groping of an Argentine dancer on her buttock was the low point, the newspaper wrote. She left the production and reported the incident to the police. The OM eventually decided not to prosecute Zholdak because “there was no sexual context” in the groping. The dancer then filed an Article 12 procedure, asking the court to force the OM to prosecute.
But the Amsterdam Court of Appeal has ruled against her. According to the court, it is clear that Zholdak touched the Argentine dancer’s buttock for three seconds. It is also clear that this is “in conflict with the currently applicable social-ethical norm” and with the National Opera’s code of conduct. But based on four witness statements, the groping did not happen in a sexual context, which is required to prosecute someone for indecent acts.
Lawyer Sophie Eijsbouts, who represented the dancer, is disappointed by the ruling, she told Parool. “Zholdak was not even called as a witness, because he is abroad. It feels like a practical decision, because otherwise it would be too difficult. If he had been in the country, I think a different decision would have been made.”
