Because of France’s statute of limitations, the complaint has little chance of leading to charges.
Rennes:
A woman has accused French screen legend Gerard Depardieu of sexually assaulting her during the filming of a 2014 movie, according to a police indictment and newspaper reports.
Depardieu, 75, has been charged with rape in a separate case and accused of sexually harassing and assaulting more than a dozen women. He denies the accusations.
The woman filed a complaint on January 9, accusing Depardieu of “abusing his power and sexually assaulting vulnerable people,” according to documents seen by AFP on Thursday night.
She told local newspaper Le Courrier de l’Ouest that the 24-year-old was working as an assistant on the set of the 2015 film The Magician and Siam when he groped her “all over” and made “inappropriate” comments. (“The Magician and the Siamese”).
In France, the statute of limitations for alleged sexual assault of an adult is six years.
Depardieu was accused of rape and sexual assault in 2020 after actor Charlotte Arnould filed a complaint against the 2018 accusations.
Last year, another sexual assault complaint was filed by actress Helene Darras, who said Depardieu groped and sexually harassed her during the filming of a 2007 movie, but the complaint was dismissed because the statute of limitations had expired. It is revoked.
Spanish journalist and author Ruth Baza said she filed a criminal complaint against Depardieu in Spain last month, claiming he raped her in Paris in 1995.
Because France has a 20-year statute of limitations on charges of rape of an adult, the complaint is highly unlikely to lead to charges.
But Baza said she decided to move forward regardless, hoping it would “help others” do the same.
The multiple accusations against Depardieu have become a frontline in France’s culture war, dividing the film industry and pitting feminist groups against the actor’s defenders – including President Emmanuel Macron .
The French leader said in December that Depardieu should enjoy the presumption of innocence, calling him a “great actor” and suggesting he was the victim of a “manhunt”.
Macron recently admitted that he “did not adequately address how important the words of women who are victims of violence are”.
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