Gerard Depardieu to stand trial for sexually assaulting two women

Gerard Depardieu was served with a summons to appear in criminal court, the Paris prosecutor's office said on Monday. Photo: Axel Schmidt/AP

French actor Gerard Depardieu will stand trial in October for sexually assaulting two women, Paris prosecutors said Monday.

French police have questioned the 75-year-old screen veteran over accusations of 2021 earlier on Monday before releasing him.

In another case, Depardieu was charged with rape in 2020 and his career was put on hold last fall. because charges were brought against him.

On Monday evening, the prosecutor's office said: «At the end of his detention in the 3rd Judicial Police District, Gérard Depardieu was served with a summons to appear in criminal court… for sexual assaults that were likely committed in September 2021.» to the detriment of two victims on the set of the film Green Shutters.

Depardieu, 75, who has directed more than 200 films and television series, denies any wrongdoing.

Depardieu has already been charged with rape, as well as assault charges by more than a dozen women. He categorically denies any wrongdoing.

“I have never insulted a woman,” Depardieu wrote in Le Figaro newspaper in October.

In 2020, police charged Depardieu with rape and sexual violence. after actress Charlotte Arnoux said he raped her in 2018 when she was 22.

Another sexual assault complaint filed last year by actress Hélène Darras, who said Depardieu fondled and propositioned her during the filming of a 2007 film, was thrown out because the statute of limitations had expired.

Indecent comments

In December, Spanish journalist and writer Ruth Baza said she had filed a criminal case in her home country against Depardieu, alleging that he raped her in 1995 in Paris.

Even though the events had passed the legal deadline years ago, she said she decided to file a complaint in the hope that it would «help other people» do the same.

The debate about whether to show Depardieu's films has intensified recently. last year after a television report showed the actor repeatedly making lewd comments in front of a female interpreter during a trip to North Korea in 2018.

His wax sculpture was hastily removed from a wax museum figures of the Grevin Museum in Paris and the Canadian province of Quebec deprived him of its highest award.

Actress Anouk Greenberg, Depardieu's co-star in Green Shutters, told how she and others on set were «subjected to obscene nonsense from morning to evening.»

She told AFP: «When film producers hire Depardieu to make a movie, they know they're hiring a harasser.»

Greenberg said the producers of «Green Shutters» allegedly appointed someone to handle harassment issues, but claim that person did nothing .

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In December, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, caused an uproar after he defended the actor as innocent until proven guilty and implied that he was the victim of «persecution «.

Macron said late last year: «He is an outstanding actor, a genius of his art. He makes France proud.»

Mr Macron later said he should have paid more attention to the importance of women speaking up.

The French film industry has been accused of being slow to respond. sexism and abuse among them after several male actors and directors recently received complaints of abuse.