After a lengthy investigation, Paris prosecutors have requested that Gerard Depardieu stand trial over allegations of rape by digital penetration and sexual assault made by actor Charlotte Arnould.
In a statement sent to Variety today, the Paris Prosecutors’ Office said that it has “requested the referral of Gerard Depardieu to the departmental criminal court to be tried for rape by digital penetration and sexual assault on Aug. 7 and 13, 2018, to the detriment of Charlotte Arnould, born in November 1995.”
The Prosecutors’ Office added that “it is now up to the investigating judge to decide on the direction to be given to the procedure.”
Contacted by Variety, Depardieu’s attorney, Christian Saint-Palais, was unavailable to comment.
The case stems from a complaint filed in August 2018 by Arnould, an actor and dancer whose parents are old friends of Depardieu. It was initially dropped in 2019 following a lack of characterized evidence, but was reopened in 2020 after Arnould filed a civil complaint with the Paris investigating judge. Depardieu was put under a formal investigation in July 2020 after the procedure was re-examined, and was indicted in December of that year.
Depardieu addressed Arnould’s accusations in an open letter published by Le Figaro on Oct. 1, 2023, in which he claimed he was “neither a rapist, nor a predator.” Without naming Arnould, Depardieu said “a woman came to [his] home a first time, lightly, and willingly stepped into [his] bedroom. She says today that she was raped there.”
A confrontation between Depardieu and Arnould in the judge’s office was organized on June 19, 2023. In September 2023, Depardieu found himself in controversy again following a bombshell investigative report published by Mediapart in which the actor was accused of sexual misconduct by 13 women.
One of these 13 women, Hélène Darras, an actor with whom Depardieu worked on the comedy “Disco” in 2007, filed a complaint alleging sexual assault last September. However, prosecutors decided to dismiss the case due to the statute of limitations.
Depardieu unwillingly triggered a watershed moment for the #MeToo movement in France last December following the broadcast of an investigative documentary in which he’s seen making sexually inappropriate and obscene jokes, including one about a child riding a pony, during a shoot in North Korea. The documentary was viewed by 2.2 million people on the public broadcaster France Televisions.
Despite all the scandals, French President Emmanuel Macron has stood by Depardieu and refused to scrap his Legion of Honor.
“I’m a big admirer of Gerard Depardieu,” said Emmanuel Macron on the set of “C’est à vous,” the primetime TV magazine, when asked for comment on the downfall of Depardieu last December. “He’s an immense actor, who has delivered some of the most beautiful texts. He made France known, our greatest authors, our greatest characters, across the world.”
Source Agencies
