Actor Gerard Depardieu begins trial for sexual assault in Paris
French actor, Gerard Depardieu is standing trial in Paris following accusations that he sexually assaulted two women on the set of a film in 2021.
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French actor Gerard Depardieu arrived in court Monday for the start of a trial over several sexual assaults alleged to have taken place on a film set in 2021.
The case, which chronicles just one of a string of accusations made against the celebrated actor, places Depardieu at the heart of France’s broader reckoning over sexual violence.
A towering figure of French cinema, Depardieu, 76, has faced a growing number of sexual assault allegations in recent years. The claims, which come from over 10 women who have worked with the actor in various capacities in the past, date back to the early 2000s and allege a pattern of abuse and misbehavior.
Depardieu has consistently denied any wrongdoing and Monday’s trial represents the first case that has made it to the courtroom.
“He has obviously denied it from the beginning,” Depardieu’s lawyer, Jeremie Assous, said on French radio RMC Monday morning.
What to know about Gerard Depardieu’s trial
The trial is expected to last up to three days after an initial hearing was postponed in October due to Depardieu’s health.
“Like any person facing trial, he has the right to speak,” Assous said. “He will finally speak.”
If found guilty of assault, Depardieu could face a sentence of up to five years in jail and a 75,000 euro ($81,200) fine.
What are the accusations against Gerard Depardieu?
Prosecutors allege Depardieu assaulted two women – whose identities have not been revealed – during the 2021 filming of “Les Volets Verts” (The Green Shutters).
Depardieu is accused of groping one of the women on the film set in front of three witnesses. Prosecutors allege he pulled her towards him and trapped her with his legs before touching her waist, hips and breasts and speaking obscenities.
The second woman is alleging he assaulted her both on set and in the street.
A lawyer for one of the women told Reuters her client had been scared to come forward against Depardieu, who is one of France’s best-known movie stars.
“There’s a fear because he’s a cinema giant,” said attorney Carine Durrieu-Diebolt. “It’s a struggle between David and Goliath and they are afraid of retaliation as they all work in cinema but at a much lower level than Depardieu.”
The other woman’s lawyer did not reply to Reuters’ requests for comment.
What has Gerard Depardieu said about the allegations?
Depardieu has maintained his innocence in the years since many of the allegations became public.
“Never, ever have I abused a woman,” he wrote in an open letter that appeared in French publication Le Figaro in 2023.
“Hurting a woman would be like kicking my own mother in the stomach,” he wrote, calling the media’s reporting on the incidents a “lynching.”
“I have only my word to defend myself,” he wrote.
A #MeToo moment in France
Depardieu’s trial is among the highest-profile #MeToo cases to come before the courts in France, a country where the protest movement over sexual violence has struggled to gain the same traction as in the United States.
Recently, however, there have been signs this might change.
Gisele Pelicot became a global feminist icon last year after she waived her rights to anonymity during the trial of her former husband, who was convicted of drugging her and inviting dozens of men over to their home to sexually abuse her.
Fivty-one men, including Pelicot’s husband, were convicted in the case.
Last month, a French court also found film director Christophe Ruggia guilty of sexually abusing actress Adele Haenel when she was underage.
Contributing: Anna Kaufman, USA TODAY; Elizabeth Pineau, Clotaire Achi, Reuters
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