The Paris prosecutor’s office has requested a trial against Gérard Depardieu in the context of the rape complaint filed by actress Charlotte Arnoult in 2018. The actor is already due to appear in court in October for another case.
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16:45 – “For Charlotte, it’s a huge step forward”
Speaking to BFM TV, Me Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, Charlotte Arnould’s lawyer, reacted to the news that the Paris prosecutor’s office had requested a rape trial against Gerard Depardieu : “For Charlotte, this is a huge step forward in going towards a trial. She is now impatiently awaiting the end of the investigation.” Let us recall that while Gérard Depardieu has since been the subject of several complaints, two of which will result in a trial in October, Charlotte Arnould is the first woman to have filed a complaint against the actor of Cyrano de Bergerac Or The Goatin 2018. In a story on Instagram, the complainant said she was “so moved”.
16:11 – A trial requested by the prosecution, and now?
The Paris prosecutor’s office has requested a rape trial against Gérard Depardieu in the Charlotte Arnould affair, our colleagues at BFM TV this Thursday. Still according to the television media, this does not mean that the trial will actually take place: it is now the turn of the investigating judge to decide whether or not to refer Gérard Depardieu to the departmental criminal court.
15:50 – Trial requested against Gérard Depardieu in the Arnould affair
The Paris prosecutor’s office announced that it had requested a trial for rape against Hérard Depardieu this Thursday, August 22, before the departmental criminal court. This follows the complaint filed by Charlotte Arnould in 2018, accusing her of rape and sexual assault on August 7 and 13 of that same year. BFM TV specifies that the public prosecutor signed a final indictment on August 14.
Gérard Depardieu will appear in court next October to be tried for sexual assault against two women in 2021. But the French actor could soon have another date with the courts. While six complaints have been filed against the movie star, including one that will be at the heart of the October trial, another complaint could result in a second trial. The Paris prosecutor’s office announced on Thursday, August 22, that it had requested a trial for rape against Gérard Depardieu and before the departmental criminal court, reports BFMTVA decision which follows the complaint filed in 2018 by Charlotte Arnoult, the first targeting the actor.
Gérard Depardieu has already been indicted in the Charlotte Arnoult case. The young actress, daughter of a friend of the actor, accuses the latter of having raped her twice, on August 7 and 13, 2018, in his Parisian home. Although the 75-year-old actor appealed his indictment, the prosecution confirmed its decision in March 2022. Charlotte Arnoult, who returned to the rapes she says she suffered in the columns of She and other media, also testified on the show Further investigation of France 2 dedicated to Gérard Depardieu and broadcast in December 2023. Earlier in the year, the actress deplored the psychological consequences of the violence.
A first trial in October for Gérard Depardieu
It is a rape trial that could await Gérard Depardieu. While waiting for confirmation of the holding of the trial, the decision must be taken by the investigating judge, the actor is already expected to appear in court at least next October to be judged for sexual assaults likely to have been committed in September 2021 on the set of the film The Green Shutters, to the detriment of two victims, at least one of whom filed a complaint. The latter accuses Gérard Depardieu of sexual assault in 2021, while she was working as a set designer on the set of Jean Becker’s film. She indicated in her complaint, and to Mediaparthaving been “brutally grabbed” by the actor who allegedly “kneaded her waist, her stomach, going up to her breasts”. He also allegedly made “obscene remarks” to her such as: “Come and touch my big parasol, I’m going to stick it in your pussy”, she confided.
For his part, Gérard Depardieu, who was taken into custody and questioned by investigators on these accusations in April 2024, denies any sexual assault. He denies having assaulted the decorator in 2021 as much as having raped Charlotte Arnoult in 2018. “I am neither a rapist nor a predator,” he wrote in an op-ed published in October 2023 in The Figaroadding that “never ever [il n’a] abused a woman.” He remains presumed innocent to this day.