Sex assault grievance towards Gerald Depardieu is dropped
- More than a dozen girls have accused Depardieu of harassment and assault
- The 75-year-old actor has additionally been charged with rape in one other case
A sexual assault grievance filed final 12 months towards French movie legend Gerald Depardieu relationship again to 2007 was previous the statute of limitations, prosecutors mentioned Monday.
Depardieu, 75, has been charged with rape in one other case and has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by greater than a dozen girls, allegations he denies.
The felony grievance from actor Helene Darras, who mentioned Depardieu groped and propositioned her throughout a 2007 movie shoot, was dropped late final month, the Paris prosecutors’ workplace advised AFP.
Neither Darras nor Depardieu’s attorneys had been instantly out there for remark when approached by France‘s AFP information company.
Darras had already spoken to investigators in 2022 and information web site Mediapart earlier than submitting her grievance in September, she advised AFP final month.
Gerald Depardieu, 75, has been charged with rape in one other case and has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by greater than a dozen girls, allegations he denies
The felony grievance from actor Helene Darras (pictured), who mentioned Depardieu groped and propositioned her throughout a 2007 movie shoot, was dropped late final month, the Paris prosecutors’ workplace advised AFP.
‘It took me a 12 months to go from speaking about what occurred to the felony grievance,’ she mentioned on the time.
‘Walking via the door of a police station, telling an officer somebody touched your intimate elements, it is not straightforward, you want time to consider it,’ she added.
But she had ‘wished to answer the defence that performs down our allegations by saying they’re ‘simply’ witness accounts,’ Darras mentioned.
In an interview with broadcaster France 2, she accused Depardieu of touching her hips and buttocks and welcoming her into his dressing room.
She additionally accused him of constant even after she refused.
Depardieu was in 2020 charged with rape and sexual assault after one other actor, Charlotte Arnould, filed her personal grievance over allegations relationship to 2018.
There is CCTV footage of Depardieu performing a intercourse act on Arnould at his Paris mansion in August 2018, however he insists it was consensual.
Ms Arnould renounced her authorized proper to anonymity on the finish of 2021, following Depardieu being charged with rape and sexual assault.
Arnould’s lawyer has additionally requested Paris prosecutors to analyze a recording of Depardieu making derogatory feedback about girls throughout a filming journey to North Korea, which was later handed to France 2.
In a separate case, Spanish journalist and writer Ruth Baza mentioned that she had filed a felony grievance in Spain towards Depardieu final month, claiming he raped her practically three a long time in the past in Paris.
The grievance has little hope of resulting in fees because of the statute of limitations in France, however Baza mentioned she determined to go forward anyway within the hope that it could ‘assist different individuals’ to do the identical.
A feminist activist holds a placard studying ‘On the victims’ facet, not of the facet of the perpetrators’ throughout an illustration, in entrance of the courthouse of nantes, western France, on January 11 after Macron commented on the Depardieu case
The president final month mentioned Depardieu ought to benefit from the presumption of innocence, calling him an ‘immense actor’ who ‘makes France proud’ and saying he was now the sufferer of a ‘manhunt’. Pictured: Feminist protesters in France, January 11, maintain #MeToo indicators
Repeated allegations of sexual violence towards Depardieu have develop into a culture-war frontline in France.
The accusations have divided the world of cinema, pitting feminist teams towards the actor’s defenders – together with President Emmanuel Macron.
The president final month mentioned Depardieu ought to benefit from the presumption of innocence, calling him an ‘immense actor’ who ‘makes France proud’ and saying he was now the sufferer of a ‘manhunt’.
‘If each time somebody accuses you of the worst and you’ve got a public position, you’ll be able to now not do something, it’s the air of suspicion, it’s now not a democracy. We are now not free residents,’ Macron mentioned, in feedback that sparked anger.
Mr Macron has additionally mentioned Depardieu shouldn’t be stripped of his Legion d’Honneur – France’s highest civilian award – as a result of ‘it’s not an ethical instrument’.
This is regardless of Rima Abdul Malak, Mr Macron’s personal Culture Minister, saying Depardieu had ‘introduced disgrace of France’ along with his all-round sexist behaviour, and shouldn’t retain the Legion d’Honneur.
Macron extra not too long ago allowed that he had not ‘mentioned sufficient how vital the phrases of ladies who’re victims of this violence are’.
Within just a few days of his indictment, Depardieu was again engaged on the Paris location of the police drama Maigret And The Dead Girl, by which he starred with Jade Labeste.
In October, he broke his silence over claims that he’s a serial intercourse abuser saying: ‘I’m neither a rapist nor a predator.’
Accusing enemies of subjecting him to a ‘lynching’ within the media, he expressed his anger in an open letter in Le Figaro newspaper.
French actress Charlotte Arnould (pictured) went public along with her accusation that Depardieu, 74, raped her in his Paris mansion. Ms Arnould, 33, renounced her authorized proper to anonymity on the finish of 2021, to protest at how lengthy the investigation is taking
The Charlotte Arnould case is presently making its manner via the French courts after an try by Depardieu’s counsel to get the costs overturned was overruled.
Accusations towards Depardieu observe a sequence of MeToo complaints towards highly effective males within the Paris arts institution who’re mentioned to have raped or in any other case abused younger girls working as fashions and actresses.
Such scandals have led to demonstrations by girls’s teams at high-profile showbusiness occasions, as they name for feminine actors to cease working with allegedly abusive males.
In 2017, President Macron withdrew the Legion of Honour from Harvey Weinstein after a sequence of accusations of sexual harassment and rape which ultimately noticed the Hollywood mogul imprisoned.
