Gérard Depardieu handed 18-month suspended sentence for sexual assault
The French actor, who did not attend the reading of his verdict, was added to the sex offenders registry and will be barred from certain activities for two years.
Gérard Depardieu, escorted by several police officers
French actor Gérard Depardieu was sentenced by a Paris (France) court to an 18-month suspended prison term, as requested by the prosecution, for sexually assaulting two women during a 2021 film shoot.
Depardieu, who did not attend the reading of his verdict because he was shooting a movie, faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a total of about $81,000 in fines.
In addition to the prison sentence, Depardieu was sentenced to two years of disqualification from professional activities and the registration of his name on the French sex offender registry, which was another of the prosecution's requests.
The accusations against him stemmed from events that occurred during the filming of the movie Les volets verts in 2021. Two women involved in the production, a set designer and an assistant director, filed a complaint against Depardieu for sexual assault.
One of them claimed that, as the two were looking for a set with umbrellas to film a shot for the movie, Depardieu turned to her, grabbed her by the hips and said, "Come touch my big umbrella, I'm going to stick it in you."
The other victim said the French actor touched her buttocks and breasts on several occasions.
The trial was scheduled to begin in October 2024. However, it had to be postponed to March because of the state of health Depardieu was in at the time after undergoing heart surgery.
He still faces other similar accusations.
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