French actor Gerard Depardieu to face trial on sexual assault charges

Gerard Depardieu, a legendary French filmmaker, is scheduled to go on trial in Paris on Monday for allegedly sexually assaulting two women in a 2021 film shoot.

Depardieu, 76, who has produced more than 200 movies and television shows, has been accused of being in a relationship with 20 women, but the trial is set for the first time on Monday. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

The movie star was expected to attend the two-day trial after the initial hearing was postponed due to his ill health, according to Depardieu’s attorney, Jeremie Assous, who claimed on Friday that the case was based on “false accusations” against his client.

Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters) filming in 2021, according to the prosecution, was one of the assaults.

They accuse Depardieu of touching one of the women’s waist, hips, and breasts while saying obscene words while pulling one woman toward him and catching her with his legs while doing it. According to the prosecution, three people were present at the scene.

According to them, Depardieu allegedly groped the second woman on set and in the street. The women’s identities have not been made public.

The alleged assaults took place while Depardieu was being investigated for allegedly raping a young actress in 2018 at the time. Prosecutors in the case have requested a trial.

Depardieu’s trial could be the most well-known #MeToo case to be brought before French courts, where the anti-sex violence protest movement has struggled to gain the same amount of support as in the US.

Christophe Ruggia, a French court martial artist, was found guilty of sexually abusing underage actress Adele Haenel in February.

These trials, according to French director and actress Judith Godreche, who like Haenel has become a significant voice in the #MeToo movement in France.

She told the Reuters news agency over the phone that “one of the great things that is happening is that women who are talking to very powerful men are generally not considered crazy anymore.”