French justice orders Depardieu to stand trial for new alleged sexual assault
In his indictment decision, the investigating judge cited alleged sexual assaults against an actress that took place in August 2018 at the actor’s home.
Gerard Depardieu
French courts have ordered actor Gérard Depardieu, 76, to stand trial for the alleged rape and sexual assault of actress Charlotte Arnould, sources close to the case told AFP on Tuesday.
"It's huge. I'm relieved," said the actress on Instagram, adding that she had endured "seven years of horror and hell." She filed her complaint against Depardieu in 2018, just days after the alleged assaults.
In his indictment decision, the investigating judge cited “two sexual assaults and rapes by digital penetration” at the actor’s Paris home on August 7 and 13, 2018, according to the complainant’s lawyer, Carine Durrieu-Diebolt.
Depardieu has consistently maintained that the relationship was consensual: “I never, ever abused a woman,” the actor wrote in an open letter published in Le Figaro in October 2023.
Depardieu was sentenced in May
Depardieu, who has appeared in more than 200 films and television series, is the most prominent figure in French cinema to face sexual violence allegations amid the country’s #MeToo movement.
The accusations sparked a wave of complaints against the French film industry, mirroring the reckoning Hollywood experienced during #MeToo. Since then, Depardieu’s collaborations and public appearances have been sharply curtailed. The actor, however, insists he is the victim of a “media lynching.”
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