PARIS (AP) — The plaintiffs’ attorneys referred to as French actor Gérard Depardieu a sexual predator and a “misogynist” Thursday of their ultimate plea at a Paris trial over accusations that he sexually assaulted two ladies who have been engaged on a movie with him.
The actor, 76, is accused of getting groped a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant throughout filming of the film “Les Volets Verts” (“The Green Shutters”) in 2021. He has denied the accusations.
He faces as much as 5 years in jail and a superb of 75,000 euros ($81,000) if convicted. The decision is predicted at a later date.
The set dresser’s lawyer, Carine Durrieu Diebolt, referred to as Depardieu a sexual predator who dedicated misconduct for many years in direction of “little people” within the cinema world.
:Possibly you assume he’s an amazing actor and you like his movies,” she said. “Depardieu can be a sexual predator.”
His standing as a world-renowned actor made him each a creative and an financial energy within the movie business, in distinction with the plaintiffs who risked being blacklisted in the event that they converse up, Durrieu Diebolt stated, denouncing what she referred to as a “system of impunity.”
“M. Depardieu, when he’s touching women’s bodies, he’s exercising his power over them,” she stated.
On Tuesday, Depardieu acknowledged that he had used vulgar and sexualized language with the set dresser who accused him of sexual assault. He stated he grabbed her hips throughout an argument, however denied that his conduct was sexual.
The lawyer for the opposite plaintiff, Claude Vincent, began her plea with a minutes-long record of obscene phrases and different vulgar expressions hardly ever heard in a courtroom, saying: “That’s how Gerard Depardieu behaves on a film set, that the atmosphere he’s imposing around him.”
“No, you can’t separate the man from the artist,” she stated. “He’s Gérard Depardieu, a misogynist amid misogynists.”
The plaintiff, a movie assistant, stated Depardieu groped her buttocks and her breasts throughout three separate incidents on the movie set.
Depardieu has rejected the accusations for the reason that starting of the trial Monday, saying he’s “not like that.”
The actor is being tried by a panel of three judges, not a jury, which is regular for such instances. The judges don’t problem their verdict right away however typically deliberate for weeks or months.
