Gérard Depardieu’s trial for sexual assault has finally been postponed. Shortly after its opening on Monday, October 28, the Paris Criminal Court decided to postpone it until March 24 and 25, 2025.
Gérard Depardieu was absent from his first trial at the Paris court, where he was due to be tried for sexual assaults on two women during a film shoot in 2021.
“Unfortunately, his doctors have ordered him not to appear today,” said the actor’s lawyer, Jérémie Assous, explaining that Gérard Depardieu had undergone quadruple coronary bypass surgery and suffered from diabetes aggravated by the stress of the upcoming trial.
The president of the criminal court chamber ordered a medical examination – to be carried out before March 4 by a doctor qualified in cardiology and vascular conditions – in order to decide on the actor’s ability to appear.
“Target of false accusations”
At the end of April, after being in police custody, Gérard Depardieu was given a summons to appear in court “for sexual assaults that may have been committed in September 2021 against two victims, on the set of the film ‘Les volets verts'” by Jean Becker, the prosecution said.
One of the two women, a film set designer, filed a complaint in February 2024 against the actor – indicted for rape in another case – for sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexist insults during the filming of this film, leading to the opening of an investigation.
“I expect justice to be the same for everyone and for Mr Depardieu not to benefit from preferential treatment because he is an artist,” his lawyer, Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, told AFP .
Gérard Depardieu is “the target of false accusations”, asserted Jérémie Assous, for whom “the aim pursued has just been revealed through the compensation requests: to enrich himself by 30,000 euros”.
According to the 55-year-old complainant, the alleged events took place in September 2021, in a private mansion in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.
“Caught with brutality”
In her account to the investigative website Mediapart , the latter explained that Gérard Depardieu suddenly shouted during a conversation that he wanted a “fan” because he could “no longer even get an erection” in this heat, then he assured that he could “make women cum without touching them”.
An hour later, he allegedly “roughly grabbed” her as she was leaving the set.
Gérard Depardieu then allegedly “blocked her by closing his legs around [her] like a crab”, then “kneaded her waist, her stomach, going up to [her] breasts”, she said.
He also allegedly made “obscene remarks” to her, such as: “Come and touch my big parasol, I’m going to stick it in your pussy.”
“My client is waiting for the courts to establish that Gérard Depardieu is a serial sexual aggressor,” added Me Carine Durrieu-Diebolt.
The actor will also be tried for sexual violence reported in a complaint by another woman, an assistant director on the same film.
During this shoot, “from morning to night, we were subjected to his dirty talk,” actress Anouk Grinberg testified in an interview with AFP. “When film producers hire Depardieu for a film, they know they are hiring an aggressor,” she accused.
Full house
In the 10th chamber of the criminal court, where the trial opened at 1:30 p.m., all the benches were occupied, notably by members of feminist associations but also by women who have also denounced attacks by Gérard Depardieu.
Outside the court, about a hundred people, mostly women, demonstrated. The hearing was also broadcast live in another room for the public and journalists who were unable to enter.
Threatened with another trial
A major figure in French cinema, known worldwide and with over 200 films, Gérard Depardieu has been accused of sexual violence by several women over the past six years. Some of the complaints of sexual assault against the actor have been dismissed due to the statute of limitations.
But the latter is under threat of another trial: in August, the Paris prosecutor’s office requested that he be referred to the criminal court to be tried for rape and sexual assault on actress Charlotte Arnould. She had been the first to file a complaint against the famous actor in 2018.
“Never, ever have I abused a woman,” Gérard Depardieu defended himself in an open letter published in Le Figaro on October 1 , 2023.
A few weeks later, in December 2023, Emmanuel Macron shocked feminist associations by hailing an “immense actor” who “makes France proud”, denouncing “a manhunt” after the broadcast of a report by “Complément d’Enquête” on France 2, during which the actor made numerous misogynistic and insulting remarks towards women.
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