Gérard Depardieu sexual assault trial verdict anticipated

[ad_1] French cinema star Gérard Depardieu faces a suspended jail time period and registration as a sex-offender if he's convicted right now of assault.

At his trial six weeks in the past, the court docket heard testimony from two girls who mentioned the 76-year-old actor groped them throughout work on a movie set in Paris in 2021. Depardieu denies the allegations.

In his summing-up earlier than the decide on 27 March, prosecutor Laurent Man mentioned: "It is completely doable to be a wonderful actor and an excellent father - and nonetheless commit a criminal offense.

"You aren't right here to go judgment on French cinema. You're right here to evaluate Gérard Depardieu, simply as you'll some other citizen."

The prosecutor requested for a suspended jail time period of 18 months, in addition to a €20,000 (£16,850) high-quality and registration on the sex-offenders' checklist.

Claude Vincent, representing one of many two girls plaintiffs, described Depardieu as a "misogynist" and a "case-study in sexism".

However for the defence, Jérémie Assous demanded an acquittal and referred to as the plaintiffs' workforce "extra militants than legal professionals".

"They can't bear that there ought to even be a defence. They assume any defence is a supplementary assault," he informed the court docket.

The alleged assaults happened in September 2021 when Depardieu was making a movie referred to as Les Volets Verts (The Inexperienced Shutters) about an ageing actor coming to phrases along with his declining powers.

It was the primary time the actor appeared in court docket on sexual assault fees. A number of different girls have made comparable allegations within the media, and an alleged rape case may come to trial.

The primary plaintiff - a set decorator - informed the court docket that after a minor argument with Depardieu, he caught her between his legs and held her by the hips.

The second lady - an assistant director - mentioned the actor touched her buttocks and breasts by means of her garments on three separate events.

Depardieu denied the allegations, saying solely that he may need touched the ladies by accident or to maintain his stability.

On the finish of the hearings, Depardieu mentioned: "My title has been dragged by means of the mud by lies and insults.

"A trial is usually a very particular expertise for an actor. Seeing all this anger, the police, the press. It is like being in a science fiction movie, besides it isn't science fiction. It is life."

He thanked the prosecution and defence groups for giving him insights into how courts function. "These classes could also be an inspiration for me at some point if I get to play a lawyer," he mentioned.

Depardieu mentioned he had not labored as an actor for 3 years because the sexual allegations in opposition to him started to flow into.

Nonetheless earlier this month it was reported that he had begun work within the Azores on a movie directed by his buddy, the actress Fanny Ardant. Depardieu is enjoying a magician on a mysterious island, based on media experiences.

Ardant appeared with Depardieu in Les Volets Verts and spoke in his defence on the trial.

"Genius - in no matter type it takes - carries inside it a component of the extravagant, the untamed, the damaging. (Depardieu) is the monster and the saint," she mentioned.

One other veteran French actress took Depardieu's facet on Monday. In a uncommon interview with French tv, Brigitte Bardot, 90, deplored how "gifted individuals who contact the buttocks of a lady are consigned to the deepest dungeon."