Gérard Depardieu: French prosecutors call for rape trial

French actor Gérard Depardieu has been called to appear in court in connection with allegations of rape and sexual assault dating back to 2018.

The Paris public prosecutor's office made the call to the 75-year-old actor on August 14, 2024, relating to allegations made by actress Charlotte Arnould.

The actor was first indicted on December 16, 2020 following the actress’s accusations on August 10 of two alleged rapes. Ms Arnould, now aged 28, told the Paris prosecutor that the rapes were committed on August 7 and 13, 2018, at Mr Depardieu’s home in the 6th arrondissement in Paris.

Read also: Gérard Depardieu lawyer criticises rape case going public 

She has since written, and posted on X (Twitter): “I need to live in my truth. I have been hiding and living in silence. I cannot stand it anymore. I need to speak up. I was raped by Gérard Depardieu in August 2018.

“He was questioned a year ago. He is working while I am spending my time trying to survive.”

She waived her right to anonymity and spoke out in a post on X (Twitter).

Read also: ‘I can no longer stay silent’ says actress accusing Depardieu of rape 

Her father used to be friends with Mr Depardieu and the latter had held her when she was a baby, Ms Arnould wrote in Elle magazine in October 2023.

However, she claimed that when she went to Mr Depardieu’s home for professional reasons, then aged 24, he sexually assaulted her. Ms Arnould had originally wanted a career as a dancer, but suffered an eating disorder while training. She then changed her course towards acting and had, she said, sought Mr Depardieu’s advice.

She said that she visited his home twice; once for advice, when the first assault allegedly happened, and secondly, to confront him about the first time. “[But] he did the same thing as before,” she said.

Police complaints

Ms Arnould went to the police a few days later, lodging an initial complaint in 2018 at a gendarmerie station in Bouches-du-Rhône. However, the Aix-en-Provence public prosecutor's office said it was a case for the Paris public prosecutor's office, the Paris office told the Agence France-Presse.

Ms Arnould told BFMTV that in order to push the case further she later lodged a civil claim “in order to recover her integrity”.

Ms Arnould’s lawyer, Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, has welcomed the new call for Mr Depardieu to appear in court. “This is the result of a lengthy investigation that has enabled us to gather together elements that corroborate my client’s word,” she said to AFP.

Ms Arnould herself said on X (Twitter) she is “relieved and moved” by this latest order, and that it “gives her hope”, but said she was remaining “obviously cautious while awaiting the order of the examining magistrate”.

Depardieu denials

When contacted by the AFP, one of Mr Depardieu's lawyers did not respond to requests for comment, but in December 2021, the actor’s then lawyer, Hervé Temime, said that Mr Depardieu “does not wish to comment on the situation.”

The actor has repeatedly denied claims and accusations of assault.

In one interview, he told Le Figaro: “I have never, ever…abused a woman.” 

Mr Depardieu has been accused of sexual assault by more than 10 women over the years, and is already facing trial for alleged sexual assaults. Two women claim the incidents happened during the filming of Les volets verts, directed by Jean Becker, in 2021. The film was released in 2022, and also stars Fanny Ardant.

This trial is set to go ahead in the Paris criminal court (tribunal correctionnel) in October.