{"id":98723,"date":"2025-05-13T18:25:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-13T18:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/98723\/"},"modified":"2025-05-13T18:25:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-13T18:25:14","slug":"gerard-depardieu-found-guilty-of-sexual-assault-in-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/98723\/","title":{"rendered":"Gerard Depardieu Found Guilty of Sexual Assault in France"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tG\u00e9rard Depardieu was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women<\/a> during a film shoot in 2021, The New York Times<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe French actor received an 18-month suspended sentence, and his name will be added to the national sex offender registry. Depardieu will also face civil penalties, with the judge ruling that he will have to pay one victim damages of \u20ac15,000 (about $17,000) and \u20ac14,040 (about $15,600) to the other.<\/p>\n

\n\tOne of Depardieu\u2019s two accusers, identified only by her first name Am\u00e9lie, said of the ruling, \u201cFor me, it\u2019s a victory, truly. We are moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHer lawyer, Carine Durrieu Diebolt, said she hoped the ruling would bring about the \u201cend of impunity for artists in the film industry,\u201d adding: \u201cI\u2019ve heard some actors recently still supporting Depardieu. Now with this verdict, no one can say G\u00e9rard Depardieu is not a sexual predator, and that\u2019s very important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDepardieu was not in court when the verdict was read. His lawyer, J\u00e9r\u00e9mie Assous, said the actor would appeal the decision.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt is worth noting that the trial court deliberately dismissed all investigative requests \u2014 including witness hearings, a site visit, and a reconstruction \u2014 with the clear intention of paving the way for a conviction,\u201d Assous said in a statement. \u201cSuch a decision cannot withstand appellate scrutiny and is bound to be overturned by the Court of Appeal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDepardieu has faced numerous<\/a> accusations<\/a> of sexual assault<\/a> \u2014 which he has repeatedly denied \u2014 with the allegations against him receiving renewed<\/a> attention<\/a> in 2023 thanks to an extensive report by Mediapart<\/a> and a French TV documentary. French prosecutors eventually brought charges against Depardieu based on allegations made by a set decorator (the woman identified as Am\u00e9lie) and an assistant director (who remains anonymous) who worked with the actor on the film The Green Shutters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDuring the trial, Am\u00e9lie testified that Depardieu grabbed her hips in a narrow corridor and started touching her, pointing to her buttocks, hip, and pubic area. She also alleged that Depardieu grabbed her chest and, at one point, asked her to touch his penis with obscene language and suggested that he wanted to rape her. <\/p>\n

\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI saw in his eyes pleasure in frightening, that\u2019s what I felt, it\u2019s savagery,\u201d she said. \u201cHe terrified me, and that amused him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tThe assistant director, meanwhile, said that Depardieu touched her breasts and buttock on several occasions. One incident, she said, occurred during a night shoot in Paris, while another took place at an apartment, where she said Depardieu blocked her against a door and put his hands on her chest. \u201cI said no,\u201d the assistant director said in court. \u201cI was scared\u201d (via The Guardian<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\n\tDepardieu testified<\/a> in his own defense during the trial. At one point, he admitted that he used some vulgar and sexualized language with Am\u00e9lie and grabbed her hips during an argument over a painting. He also seemed to acknowledge a tendency to bad behavior, and described his actions on set as a \u201ctype of aggression.\u201d But he remained adamant that his behavior was \u201ccertainly not sexual,\u201d proclaiming at one point, \u201cI don\u2019t touch women\u2019s butts.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"G\u00e9rard Depardieu was found guilty of sexually assaulting two women during a film shoot in 2021, The New…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98724,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[39278,45891,2000,299,36,45892,34745],"class_list":{"0":"post-98723","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-controversy","9":"tag-courts-and-crime","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-france","13":"tag-gerard-depardieu","14":"tag-sexual-assault"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114501932055128769","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98723","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=98723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}