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French movie star Gerard Depardieu was found guilty of having sexually assaulted two women during the shooting of a film in 2021 and will serve a suspended prison sentence.
He was also sentenced to a fine of € 29,040 and the court asked that it be registered in France National sex offender database.
Depardieu, 76, was found guilty of trial of two employees: a 54 -year -old SET dresser and a 34 -year -old assistant during the shooting of Green shutters.
The dresser of the set said that Depardieu tramples it between her legs in a narrow corridor before grabbing her hips and groping other parts of her body, including her chest. She also said that he had used obscenity to ask him to touch his penis and suggested that he wanted to rape her.
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She told court that the calm and cooperative attitude of the actor during the trial was not like his behavior at work.
The other accused said that Depardieu had groped her buttocks and her breasts three times on the scale.
The case was largely considered as a post-#Me too Movement test of the way in which French society and its film industry would manage the allegations of sexual misconduct involving high -level individuals.
Depardieu, who denied the accusations, did not attend the audience in Paris. His lawyer said the actor would appeal the decision.
After her conviction, Carine Durrieu Diebolt, the lawyer for the SET chest of drawers, said: “It is the victory of two women, but it is the victory of all women beyond this trial.”
French actor Gerard Depardieu is seen leaving the courthouse of the Paris court on March 24, 2025. Depardieu was found guilty of having sexually assaulted two women during the shooting of a film in 2021.
Julien de Rosa / Getty Images
“Today, we hope to see the end of an artist’s impunity in the world of cinema,” she continued. “I think that with this decision, we can no longer say that he is not a sexual attacker. And today, while the Cannes Film Festival opens, I would like the world of cinema to spare the victims of Gerard Depardieu,” she concluded.
Depardieu told the courts that he had made more than 250 films throughout his illustrious career, proposing him to the height of French cinema. In 1991, he received an nodal appointment for his performance Cyrano de Bergerac like the eponymous head.
In recent years, the actor has been accused of failing more than 20 women, but only the sexual assault case has been tried in court. Several other cases have been abandoned due to a lack of evidence or a limitation period.
During the four -day trial in March, Depardieu denied the accusations, saying that he was “not like that”.
Nevertheless, he recognized that he had used a vulgar and sexualized language on the set and that he caught the hips of the set of the set during an argument. He denied that his behavior was sexual.
The panel of three tribunal judges decided that Depardieu’s explanations were “non -persuasive” and “non -credible” and underlined the “constant, repeated and corrected statements” of the two accusers “.
The court also said that Depardieu’s defense team employed an “aggressive” defense strategy and considered that their comments in court had caused the complainants more harm, justifying higher fines.
Depardieu’s lawyer, Jérémie Assous, said that he regretted that the court “considered that questioning the accusations is an additional assault”, adding that this type of defense, “even in this type of trial, is no longer accepted”.
– with files from the Associated Press
& Copy 2025 Global News, A Division of Corus Entertainment Inc.