One year suspended prison sentence required against Nicolas Bedos for sexual assault and harassment

A one-year suspended prison sentence was requested against Nicolas Bedos, Thursday September 26, by the public prosecutor, with obligation of care for sexual assault and harassment of three women between 2018 and 2023. “Can we be mistaken? No, there is no ambiguity”declared the prosecutor in his indictment.

In his defense, the actor and director repeated on numerous occasions that he had no memory of the facts with which he is accused and vigorously denied having engaged in inappropriate behavior. “I will never be a sexual aggressor, I do not impose”said the 45-year-old defendant. “We can talk about heaviness, we can talk about flirting (…) but there is no sexual intent”.

In the courtroom, in the front row, the young woman who filed a complaint against him burst into tears upon hearing these words. The alleged facts date back to the night of 1^is to June 2, 2023, during an evening at a nightclub. She accuses the director of having walked towards her, head down, before extending his right hand to her penis, over her jeans.

At the helm, Nicolas Bedos supported “don’t remember anything” of this evening during which he celebrated his partner’s pregnancy. “I sincerely wish I remembered what happened. » “Our lives have changed, my life has changed,” he moaned. “I’m not disputing what she said, but it’s her interpretation of a gesture”he continued, arguing that he could never have put his hand “on a woman’s vagina, even over jeans”.

A version supported by Nicolas Bedos’ lawyer in her pleading. “No witnesses saw what happened. It could very well be an unintentional gesture during a stampede.”said M^e Julia Minkowski.

“It costs so much to file a complaint”

The defendant admitted to having a problem with alcohol, but he declared that he was undergoing therapy and drinking less today, while turning towards his partner, Pauline Desmonts, seated in the front row, and towards his sister and his mother, also present.

“Yes, he has a problem with alcohol but just because he was drunk doesn’t mean we can blame him for anything! »said the defense. “It is an alcoholism which has terrible consequences for him and for others, but it is an illness linked to depression”continued M^e Julia Minkowski.

Called earlier to the stand to testify, the complainant struggled to recount the evening, her voice breaking into sobs when she had to mime the attack. “I couldn’t say how long it lasted. I saw who this man was, his eyes scared me”she explained, curling up in her gray hoodie. “It costs so much to file a complaint, I can’t sleep anymore… I would have preferred that this didn’t exist”continued the young woman, “but it’s serious”.

Two other women denounce his behavior

In the front row, the two other young women who denounced the director’s behavior listened to this testimony. One of them, a waitress in a Parisian bar, told investigators that Nicolas Bedos had grabbed her by the waist and kissed her on the neck on the night of May 11 to 12, 2023, while the latter was drunk.

The other alleged act, qualified as sexual harassment, dates back to June 2018. The director is suspected of having touched the stomach of a young woman and of having asked her to kiss him, before following her while she went to the toilet. Referring to these facts, the defense lawyer asked the court not to recognize the assault and harassment. “A kiss on the neck is unpleasant but it is not sexual assault”said M^e Minkowski.

Neither of these two women filed a complaint, but one of them announced at the opening of the trial that she would become a civil party. The Paris criminal court will deliver its judgment on October 22.

A provocative artist, Nicolas Bedos has turned the cream of French cinema, from Jean Dujardin (“OSS 117: Red alert in black Africa”) to Isabelle Adjani (“Masquerade”), via Daniel Auteuil, Guillaume Canet and Fanny Ardant. Various figures in French cinema have been caught up in accusations of sexual violence for several months.