A French investigating judge ordered Gérard Depardieu to stand trial over the alleged rape and sexual assault of actor Charlotte Arnould in 2018, Agence France-Presse agency learned from sources close to the case on Tuesday, September 2. The decision comes after a Paris court handed Depardieu an 18-month suspended sentence in a separate case in May, after convicting him of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021. Depardieu has denied the allegation, saying his relationship with Arnould was consensual.
The 76-year-old actor has been under investigation since December 2020 in connection with the case. "Seven years later, seven years of horror and hell. (...) I think I'm having trouble realising how huge this is. I'm relieved," said Arnould, who filed the complaint in 2018. A lawyer for Depardieu did not immediately comment when contacted by AFP.
The investigating judge ordered Depardieu to the Paris Criminal Court for sexual assault and rape by digital penetration on two occasions in August 2018, said Carine Durrieu Diebolt, the plaintiff's lawyer. "Never, ever, have I abused a woman," Depardieu wrote in an October 2023 letter to French daily Le Figaro, referring to Arnould's complaint.
Depardieu, who has acted in more than 200 films and television series, is the highest-profile figure caught up in France's response to the #MeToo movement. More than a dozen women have accused him of abuse.