![\"Plaintiff](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/2025-05-13T090954Z_1779483127_RC2XGEAZN41Z_RTRMADP_3_PEOPLE-DEPARDIEU-TRIAL-1747130672.jpg\")
Plaintiff Amelie K reacts as she speaks to members of the media at the court, after the conviction of French actor Gerard Depardieu of sexual assault of two women in Paris, France [Piroschka van de Wouw\/Reuters]<\/p>\nDepardieu is put on the sex offenders list and receives a suspended sentence for groping the women on a film set.<\/p>\n
A French court has handed down an 18-month suspended sentence to actor Gerard Depardieu after finding him guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021.<\/p>\n
The Paris court announced on Tuesday morning that Depardieu, the 76-year-old who did not attend court for the verdict, would be placed on the sex offenders list.<\/p>\n
In one of the country\u2019s highest-profile Me Too cases, Depardieu, a prominent figure of French cinema who has acted in more than 200 films and television series, has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
The trial relates to charges of sexual assault during the filming in 2021 of Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters) directed by Jean Becker.<\/p>\n
One of the two plaintiffs, Amelie K, a 54-year-old set decorator, told the court that Depardieu had groped her as he trapped her between his legs and made explicit sexual comments.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe touched everything, including my breasts,\u201d she said, adding: \u201cI was terrified, he was laughing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second witness, a 34-year-old assistant director who was unnamed, said Depardieu initially assaulted her when she accompanied him from his dressing room to the set.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was nighttime \u2026 he put his hand on my buttocks,\u201d she said, adding that the actor assaulted her on two other occasions.<\/p>\n
Plaintiff Amelie K reacts as she speaks to members of the media at the court, after the conviction of French actor Gerard Depardieu of sexual assault of two women in Paris, France [Piroschka van de Wouw\/Reuters]<\/p>\n
Judge Thierry Donard said the actor\u2019s explanation of the events had been unconvincing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m vulgar, rude, foul-mouthed, I\u2019ll accept that,\u201d Depardieu told the court, but added: \u201cI don\u2019t touch.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI adore women and femininity,\u201d he also said, describing the Me Too movement as a \u201creign of terror\u201d.<\/p>\n
Depardieu also argued before the court that he did not consider placing a hand on a person\u2019s bottom to be sexual assault and that some women were too easily shocked.<\/p>\n
Amelie K\u2019s lawyer described Tuesday\u2019s ruling as a \u201cbeautiful decision\u201d that gave recognition to Depardieu\u2019s victims.<\/p>\n
After the sentencing, Depardieu\u2019s lawyer said they would appeal the court decision.<\/p>\n
In recent years, the French actor has faced a growing number of sexual assault allegations, with about 20 women coming forward with accusations, but this case was the first to go to court.<\/p>\n
The Me Too movement came to prominence in 2017 for people to share their experiences of sexual abuse and sexual harassment by influential figures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Depardieu is put on the sex offenders list and receives a suspended sentence for groping the women on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36,12,34745],"class_list":{"0":"post-98372","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-sexual-assault"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114501224121502356","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}