Volkswacht Bodensee - France prosecutors request rape trial for Depardieu

The prosecutors recommended on Tuesday that the 76-year-old be tried over the alleged rape and sexual assault of actor Charlotte Arnould in 2018, the Paris prosecutor's office told AFP.

It is now up to the investigating magistrate to decide whether to order a trial.

Depardieu, who has acted in more than 200 films and television series, is the highest-profile figure caught up in France's response to the #MeToo movement.

More than a dozen women have accused him of abuse.

A Paris court in May handed Depardieu an 18-month suspended sentence after convicting him of having sexually assaulted two women on a film set in 2021 in a separate case.

Prosecutors had already requested a trial of Depardieu over Arnould's allegations in August last year.

But the investigation into Depardieu was then re-opened over remarks the film star made in a television report that sparked outrage.

In the report aired on France 2 on December 2023, viewers saw Depardieu make repeated degrading and sexual comments about women during a trip to North Korea. In one scene, he appeared to speak sexually about a young girl riding a horse.

The actor argued he had never spoken in such a way about the girl and requested an expert to weigh in, causing the case to be reopened.

The expert said in May the sexual comments were indeed "aimed at a girl on a poney", according to a document seen by AFP.

Now that has been concluded, prosecutors have repeated their request for a trial.

"What a relief," the plaintiff, 29-year-old Arnould, said on Instagram.

But she said she remained cautious.

"We need to wait for the investigating judge" to make a decision, she added, seven years after the alleged offences.

The actor in late 2021 publicly accused Depardieu, a family friend, of raping her twice in August 2018 when she was 22 and anorexic.

She said she weighed 37 kilos at the time.

Depardieu's lawyer Jeremie Assous said his client was innocent.

U.Maertens--VB