Paris, France.
the popular the English actor Gérard Depardieu, 72 years old, was charged Dec. 16 with “rape” and “sexual assault” which he allegedly committed in 2018 against a young actress, a source close to the case revealed to AFP yesterday, information confirmed by a judicial official.
Justice reopened in the summer of 2020 the investigation into these facts, denounced in 2018 and dismissed in a first instance.
The plaintiff had reported to the police in late August 2018 having been raped twice at the Parisian home of the star a few days before.
During an interrogation on December 16, the magistrate in charge of the case considered that there are “serious or coincident indications” that the plaintiff may have committed the alleged facts and for this reason was charged with “rape” and “sexual assault”, He told AFP.
Contacted by AFP, Depardieu’s lawyer, Hervé Témime, “regretted that this information was made public”.
the iconic and controversial actor, Who is at large without any judicial control, “he totally rejects the facts of which he is accused“, Indicated his lawyer.
The plaintiff, who is under 30, accuses her of several rapes and sexual assaults which took place on 7 and 13 August 2018 at the actor’s Parisian home.
After the Paris prosecutor’s office filed the investigation in June 2019, the actress had relaunched her complaint and an investigating judge reopened the investigation in August 2020.
According to a source close to the investigation, the actor is a friend of the victim’s family and in the past there was a fight between the two at a police station in the French capital.
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“There is nothing related to professional activity” in the case, the source said, although the French press explained that the assaults occurred during a theatrical rehearsal.
Contacted by AFP, the victim’s lawyer, Elodie Tuaillon-Hibon, called for “the privacy and privacy of her client to be preserved.”
A star surrounded by controversy
After to have presented in 1974 with the ball-breakers of Bertrand Blier and having won the Caesar for Best Actor for his role in The last meter (1980) by François Truffaut, Depardieu was consecrated by its interpretations of emblematic personages of French Literature like Cyrano de Bergerac or Jean Valjean de The miserable ones.
Father of four children, including actor Guillaume Depardieu who died in 2008, Gérard Depardieu is one of the best known French actors in the world and was often involved in controversy.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin granted him Russian citizenship in early 2013 and in 2019 the actor converted to Orthodox Christianity.
In addition to his successful film career, he is also an entrepreneur in the gastronomic and viticultural sector and has had a modest career as a singer.
Following the emergence of #MeToo in 2017, several French film figures were accused of rape, such as directors Christophe Ruggia and Luc Besson.