French actor Gérard Depardieu ordered to stand trial for rape

PARIS: French cinema icon Gérard Depardieu has been ordered to stand trial for the alleged rape and sexual assault of actor Charlotte Arnould in 2018, AFP reported on Tuesday.

The decision by a French investigating judge follows Depardieu’s 18-month suspended sentence handed down in May in a separate case, in which he was convicted of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021.

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Depardieu has denied the allegations, stating that his relationship with Arnould was consensual.

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The investigation into the 2018 incident began in December 2020. Arnould initially filed her complaint in 2018, accusing Depardieu of rape and sexual assault. The Paris Criminal Court is now set to try Depardieu on charges of rape and sexual assault by digital penetration on two occasions in August 2018, according to Carine Durrieu Diebolt, Arnould’s lawyer.

“Seven years later—seven years of horror and hell… I think I’m having trouble realising how huge this is. I’m relieved,” Arnould said in response to the court’s decision.

A lawyer for Depardieu declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

Depardieu addressed the allegations in an open letter published in Le Figaro in October 2023, writing, “Never, ever, have I abused a woman.”

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With a career spanning more than 200 films and television series, Depardieu is the most prominent figure in France to face legal action in connection with the country’s reckoning with the #MeToo movement. Over a dozen women have come forward with accusations of abuse against him.