French film legend Gérard Depardieu should face a criminal trial over allegations he raped and sexually assaulted a fellow actor, Paris prosecutors said Thursday, August 22. The investigators' formal call for a trial comes after the 75-year-old was charged in December 2020 with allegedly raping Charlotte Arnould at his Paris home on two occasions in August 2018.
Prosecutors have since conducted an investigation to determine whether a trial was warranted. It will now be up to an investigating magistrate to decide whether the hearing goes ahead.
A lawyer representing Depardieu did not immediately respond to Agence France-Presse's request for comment, while Arnould's lawyer Carine Durrieu-Diebolt said the move was "the result of a long investigation which was able to gather evidence corroborating the words of my client." It was "a huge step forward filled with hope" for Arnould, Durrieu-Diebolt added.
Depardieu has denied a string of rape and sexual assault allegations in recent years that have drawn comment from figures including President Emmanuel Macron. "Never, but never, have I abused a woman," he wrote in the conservative daily Le Figaro last October, in reference to Arnould's allegations.
The 28-year-old actor's case was initially dropped by prosecutors in 2019 after their investigation failed to turn up sufficient evidence. But she pressed successfully in 2020 for it to be reopened.
Depardieu also faces a trial in October for alleged sexual assaults against two different women during a film shoot in 2021.