Gérard Depardieu was discovered responsible of sexually assaulting two girls throughout a movie shoot in 2021, The New York Instances stories.
The French actor obtained an 18-month suspended sentence, and his identify might be added to the nationwide intercourse offender registry. Depardieu can even face civil penalties, with the choose ruling that he must pay one sufferer damages of €15,000 (about $17,000) and €14,040 (about $15,600) to the opposite.
One in every of Depardieu’s two accusers, recognized solely by her first identify Amélie, mentioned of the ruling, “For me, it’s a victory, really. We’re shifting ahead.”
Her lawyer, Carine Durrieu Diebolt, mentioned she hoped the ruling would convey concerning the “finish of impunity for artists within the movie trade,” including: “I’ve heard some actors just lately nonetheless supporting Depardieu. Now with this verdict, nobody can say Gérard Depardieu just isn’t a sexual predator, and that’s crucial.”
Depardieu was not in courtroom when the decision was learn. His lawyer, Jérémie Assous, mentioned the actor would enchantment the choice. (Assous didn’t instantly return a request for additional remark.)
Depardieu has confronted quite a few accusations of sexual assault — which he has repeatedly denied — with the allegations in opposition to him receiving renewed consideration in 2023 thanks to an intensive report by Mediapart and a French TV documentary. French prosecutors finally introduced expenses in opposition to Depardieu based mostly on allegations made by a set decorator (the girl recognized as Amélie) and an assistant director (who stays nameless) who labored with the actor on the movie The Inexperienced Shutters.
Through the trial, Amélie testified that Depardieu grabbed her hips in a slender hall and began touching her, pointing to her buttocks, hip, and pubic space. She additionally alleged that Depardieu grabbed her chest and, at one level, requested her to the touch his penis with obscene language and advised that he wished to rape her.
“I noticed in his eyes pleasure in scary, that’s what I felt, it’s savagery,” she mentioned. “He terrified me, and that amused him.”
The assistant director, in the meantime, mentioned that Depardieu touched her breasts and buttock on a number of events. One incident, she mentioned, occurred throughout an evening shoot in Paris, whereas one other befell at an condominium, the place she mentioned Depardieu blocked her in opposition to a door and put his fingers on her chest. “I mentioned no,” the assistant director mentioned in courtroom. “I used to be scared” (through The Guardian).
Depardieu testified in his personal protection through the trial. At one level, he admitted that he used some vulgar and sexualized language with Amélie and grabbed her hips throughout an argument over a portray. He additionally appeared to acknowledge a bent to unhealthy habits, and described his actions on set as a “kind of aggression.” However he remained adamant that his habits “actually not sexual,” proclaiming at one level, “I don’t contact girls’s butts.”
