The French actor Gérard Depardieu, whose trial on sexual assault prices was because of begin in Paris on Monday, has requested for a delay because of well being causes, his lawyer has stated.
“Gerard Depardieu is extraordinarily affected and sadly his docs have forbidden him from being current on the listening to, which is why he’ll ask for a postponement to a later date in order that he can attend,” Jérémie Assous informed Franceinfo.
Depardieu had been because of seem at a felony court docket listening to at 1.30pm (1230 GMT) for the beginning of his trial on prices of sexually assaulting two girls whereas capturing the 2021 movie Les Volets Verts (The Inexperienced Shutters).
The listening to is anticipated to go forward however questioning of the 75-year-old actor and the decision will probably be postponed to a later date.
Depardieu, an icon of French cinema who has appeared in additional than 200 movies, has denied accusations that he aggressively groped and made express sexual remarks to the ladies – a set designer and an assistant director.
In an open letter revealed final yr, he stated: “By no means, however by no means, have I abused a girl.” He faces quite a few additional complaints and a doable second court docket case. .
The actor is the highest-profile determine to face accusations in French cinema’s model of the #MeToo motion, triggered in 2017 by allegations towards the US producer Harvey Weinstein.
The names of the 2 girls on the centre of Monday’s trial haven’t been made public. The set designer reported in February that she had suffered sexual assault, sexual harassment and sexist insults whereas filming Les Volets Verts, directed by Jean Becker, in a personal home in Paris.
“I count on the justice system to be the identical for everyone and for Monsieur Depardieu to not obtain particular therapy simply because he’s an artist,” the plaintiff’s lawyer, Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, informed AFP.
Assous beforehand stated that Depardieu’s defence would provide “witnesses and proof that can present he has merely been focused by false accusations”. He accused the plaintiff of making an attempt to “generate profits” by claiming €30,000 (£25,000) in compensation.
The plaintiff informed the French investigative web site Mediapart that Depardieu had began loudly calling for a cooling fan through the shoot as a result of he “couldn’t even get it up” within the warmth.
She claimed the actor went on to boast that he might “give girls an orgasm with out touching them”. The plaintiff alleged that an hour later she was “brutally grabbed” by Depardieu as she was strolling off the set. The actor pinned her by “closing his legs” round her earlier than groping her waist and her abdomen, persevering with as much as her breasts, she stated.
Depardieu made “obscene remarks” through the incident, she stated, together with: “Come and contact my huge parasol. I’ll stick it in your pussy.” She described the actor’s bodyguards dragging him away as he shouted: “We’ll see one another once more, my pricey.” “My shopper expects that the justice system will discover Gérard Depardieu to be a serial sexual assaulter,” Durrieu-Diebolt stated.
The second plaintiff within the case, an assistant director on the identical movie, additionally alleges sexual violence.
Anouk Grinberg, an actor who appeared in The Inexperienced Shutters, informed AFP that Depardieu had used “salacious phrases … from morning until evening”.
“When producers employed Depardieu to work on a movie, they knew they had been hiring an assaulter,” she stated. Grinberg stated that in her expertise, Depardieu had “at all times used sexual, smutty language” – however that his behaviour had change into “a lot, a lot worse, with permission from his occupation, that pays him for it and covers up his offences”.
About 20 girls have accused Depardieu of varied sexual offences.
The actor Charlotte Arnould was the primary to file a felony criticism. A decide has but to rule on a request from prosecutors in August for Depardieu to face trial for raping and sexually assaulting her.
An investigation can also be beneath approach in Paris after a former manufacturing assistant accused Depardieu of a sexual assault in 2014. The actor Hélène Darras filed a sexual assault complaint that fell foul of the statute of limitations. The Spanish author and journalist Ruth Baza has accused Depardieu of raping her in 1995.
Weeks later, the president, Emmanuel Macron, shocked feminists by complaining of a “manhunt” targeting Depardieu, whom he known as a “towering actor” who “makes France proud”. Macron’s remarks adopted the broadcast by an investigative TV show of a recording of Depardieu making repeated misogynistic and insulting remarks about girls.
Depardieu is the largest star to face accusations in French cinema’s #MeToo motion. The directors Jacques Doillon and Benoît Jacquot are amongst different distinguished figures accused of sexual violence.
