The star of French cinema, Gérard Depardieu, was found guilty of sexual assault on two women during a shooting during a trial in Paris and received a suspended prison sentence of 18 months.
The 76 -year -old actor was accused by the two women of groping them during a work on a film in 2021. Depardieu had denied the allegations against him.
The Paris Court concluded that one of the women, a secure named Amélie, had provided coherent evidence when the actor’s accounts had changed over time. He was also found guilty of having attacked an assistant director called Sarah.
On March 27, prosecutor Laurent Guy said: “It is perfectly possible to be an excellent actor and a grandfather – and to commit a crime.
“You are not here to make a judgment on French cinema. You are here to judge Gérard Depardieu, just as you would for any other citizen.”
At the end of the six -week trial, the prosecutor had asked for a suspended prison sentence of 18 months, as well as a fine and a registration of € 20,000 (£ 16,850) on the list of sex offenders.
Claude Vincent, representing one of the two complainant women, described Depardieu as a “misogynist” and a “case studies in sexism”.
But for the defense, Jérémie Assous demanded an acquittal and described the team of complainants “more activists than lawyers”.
“They cannot bear that there should even be a defense. They think that any defense is an additional assault,” he said in court.
The alleged assaults took place in September 2021 when Depardieu made a film entitled Green shutters (The Green Shutters) about an aging actor to accept with his downward powers.
It was the first time that the actor has compared in court for sexual assault. Several other women have made similar allegations in the media, and an alleged rape affair could be tried.
The first applicant – a defined decorator called Amélie – told court that after a minor argument with Depardieu, he caught it between his legs and held it by the hips.
The second woman – an assistant director called Sarah – said that the actor had touched her buttocks and her breasts through her clothes three times.
Depardieu denied allegations, only saying that he could have accidentally touched women or to keep his balance.
At the end of the hearings, Depardieu said: “My name was dragged into the mud by lies and insults.
“A trial can be a very special experience for an actor. Seeing all this anger, the police, the press. It is like being in a science fiction film, except that it is not science fiction. It is life.”
He thanked the prosecution and defense teams for giving him an overview of the operation of the courts. “These lessons can be an inspiration for me one day if I can play a lawyer,” he said.
Depardieu said he had not worked as an actor for three years since sexual allegations against him began to circulate.
However, earlier this month, it was reported that he had started working in the Azores on a film directed by her friend, actress Fanny Ardant. Depardieu plays a magician on a mysterious island, according to the media.
Ardent appeared with Depardieu in the green shutters and spoke in his defense during the trial.
“Genius – in whatever form he has – has in her an element of the extravagant, the savage, the dangerous. (Depardieu) is the monster and the saint,” she said.
Another experienced French actress took the Depardieu team on Monday. In a rare interview with French television, Brigitte Bardot, 90, deplored how “talented people who touch a girl’s buttocks are recorded in the deepest keep”.
“Feminism is not my thing,” said Bardot. “Personally, I like men.”
