Gérard Depardieu To Stand Trial In October For Alleged Sexual Assault Following Police Audition
UPDATED with trial and date details: French actor Gérard Depardieu will stand trial in October on charges of sexual assault allegedly committed against two women on the set of the film The Green Shutters in 2021, the Paris Public Prosecutor said on Monday.
The announcement came after Depardieu was taken into police custody on Monday morning for questioning on sexual assault accusations.
“At the end of his police custody at the 3rd judicial police district, Gérard Depardieu was given a summons to appear before the criminal court… for sexual assaults likely to have been committed in September 2021 against two victims, on the set of the film The Green Shutters,” the prosecutor’s officer said in its note.
Local media reports said that the actor had been called in for questioning on accusations related to events on the sets of Jean-Pierre Mocky’s Le Magicien et les Siamois in 2014, and Jean Becker’s The Green Shutters (Volets Verts) in 2021.
The Paris Public Prosecutor said October’s trial would be in relation to two separate accusations related to the shoot of The Green Shutters. There was no mention of allegations related to the 2014 film shoot.
Earlier in the evening, Depardieu’s lawyer Christian Saint-Palais’ confirmed his client’s police audition but said he had since left the police station.
He said the audition was a routine part of the judicial process and that Depardieu disputed the allegations.
“When a person is implicated, inevitably, there comes a time when they have to explain themselves. And so today was one of those days where he had to explain the accusations made against him and which he disputes,” he told press gathered outside the police station.
He did not say whether Depardieu would be returning for further questioning.
Depardieu already faces an official complaint of two acts of rape dating back to 2018 by actress Charlotte Arnould, which is currently making its way through the courts.
The actor vehemently denied the rape allegations and mounting sexual assault accusations against him in an open letter published in Le Figaro newspaper last October, suggesting his acts had been misinterpreted.
The letter came in the wake of growing numbers of accusations against him.
In April 2023, 13 women accused the actor of sexually inappropriate behavior in an in-depth report published by French investigative news website Médiapart.
Two months after the open letter, Depardieu came under further public scrutiny in France following the broadcast on December 7 of a bombshell edition of investigative show Complément d’Enquête, which probed these historic accusations as well as other acts of inappropriate behavior.
Deadline has contacted Depardieu’s lawyer Beatrice Geissmann Achille for comment on the accusations against the actor and his detention but has yet to hear back.
Depardieu’s case has divided the French cinema world with 50 French entertainment personalities posting an open letter in support of the actor in December, saying they were against the “lynching” and cancelling of the actor.
French President Emmanuel Macron also spoke up in defense of Depardieu, saying he was a great admirer of the actor and suggesting he was subject to a witch hunt.
The open letter and Macron’s comments were met with a counter open letter signed by 600 French art and entertainment world figures, which said they were a slap in the face for all victims of sexual violence.
