Gérard Depardieu, absent for health reasons, will request an adjournment of his trial for sexual assault, according to his lawyer

Actor Gérard Depardieu, tried Monday October 28 at the Paris court for sexual assault on two women during filming in 2021, will be absent from the trial for health reasons and will request a dismissal, announced his lawyer Jérémie Assous on franceinfo .

“Gérard Depardieu is extremely affected and unfortunately his doctors forbid him from attending the hearing, which is why he will request a postponement to a later date so that he can be present”said M.^e Jérémie Assous, adding that the actor wanted “express oneself” on the facts, which he disputes.

First trial for a cinema giant: the actor, targeted by numerous accusations of sexual violence, must be tried for sexual assault on two women during filming in 2021. The hearing is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. before the 10^e room of the criminal court.

Gérard Depardieu was given a court summons at the end of April, following police custody. “for sexual assaults likely to have been committed in September 2021 to the detriment of two victims, on the set of the film “Les shutters vertes”” of Jean Becker, declared the prosecution.

No preferential treatment

One of the two women, a film decorator, filed a complaint in February 2024 against the actor – indicted for rape in another case – for sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexist outrages during the filming of this film, resulting in the opening of an investigation.

“I expect justice to be the same for everyone and that Mr. Depardieu does not benefit from preferential treatment because he is an artist”declared to Agence France-Presse his lawyer, M^e Carine Durrieu-Diebolt.

“The witnesses and evidence he produces will demonstrate that he is only the target of false accusations”for his part promised M^e Assous, for whom “the goal pursued has just been revealed through the compensation requests: to enrich yourself by 30,000 euros”. According to the 55-year-old complainant, the alleged acts took place in September 2021, in a 16th century mansion.^e Parisian district.

“Serial sex offender”

In her story to the investigative site Mediapart, the latter explained that Gérard Depardieu suddenly shouted during a conversation that he wanted a ” fan “because he could not “even more hard-on” with this heat, then he would have assured he could “make women come without touching them”. An hour later he would have it “caught with brutality” as she left the set.

Mr. Depardieu would then have “blocked by closing his legs on [elle] like a crab »then he would have “knead the waist, the stomach, going up to [ses] breasts »she assured. He also allegedly held “obscene remarks” such as “Come touch my big parasol, I’m going to shove it in your pussy”.

“My client is waiting for justice to establish that Gérard Depardieu is a serial sexual assaulter”added M^e Carine Durrieu-Diebolt. The actor will also be judged for sexual violence denounced in a complaint by another woman, an assistant director on the same film.

During this filming, “from morning to evening, we had the right to his salaceries”testified actress Anouk Grinberg, in an interview with AFP. “When film producers hire Depardieu on a film, they know they are hiring an aggressor”she had accused.

Threatened with another trial

A great figure in French cinema known throughout the world, with more than 200 films, Gérard Depardieu has been accused over the last six years of sexual violence by several women. Complaints for sexual assault against the actor were dismissed for prescription.

But Gérard Depardieu is under the threat of another trial: in August, the Paris prosecutor's office requested his referral to the criminal court so that he could be tried for rape and sexual assault on the actress Charlotte Arnould. She was the first to file a complaint against the famous actor in 2018.

“Never, ever have I abused a woman”defended Gérard Depardieu in an open letter published in Le Figaro October 1, 2023.

A few weeks later, in December 2023, Emmanuel Macron shocked feminist associations by welcoming a “huge actor” Who “makes France proud”denouncing “a manhunt” after the broadcast of a report from “Additional Investigation” on France 2, during which the actor made multiple misogynistic and insulting remarks towards women.

Launched in 2017 to denounce the behavior of American producer Harvey Weinstein, the #MeToo movement has swept through French cinema in recent years. Several big names have been accused of sexual violence, such as directors Jacques Doillon and Benoît Jacquot.