The American film and television star appeared in court when the trial against him began in Westminster Magistrates Court in London on Thursday morning.

Spacey gave his name and address and had the charges read to him in the short, formal first step in the trial, which continues at a later stage, writes the New York Times.

The case is now being forwarded to the Crown Court, which is handling criminal cases, but exactly when the legal process will continue is not entirely clear as the British judiciary is dragged down with long delays and long queues due to the pandemic.

It is clear, however, that a preliminary trial will be held on July 14, writes the BBC.

Sexual assault

The indictment, which was brought in late May, concerns four cases of sexual abuse of three men and is said to have taken place between the years 2005 and 2013 in London and the county of Gloucestershire.

The 62-year-old actor was first accused at the end of October 2017, when the metoo movement flared up, by actor Anthony Rapp, who accused him of sexual advances.

According to Rapp, these must have occurred in 1986, when he was 14 years old.

In connection with the revelations, Spacey came out as gay.

In the autumn of 2017, accusations continued to flow in, both in the United States and the United Kingdom, where some cases also led to prosecution.

In total, around 30 men have filed charges against Spacey and in September 2018, Scotland Yard conducted six investigations into sexual abuse of men in the UK.

In May 2019, Scotland Yard held an interrogation in the USA where Kevin Spacey participated voluntarily.

Got fired

The accusations against the two-time Oscar-winning actor have led to him being fired from the successful Netflix series "House of cards", that he lost an intended prize at the Emmy Gala 2017 and that director Ridley Scott cut and replaced him in the film "All the money in the world ”with another actor.

Several of the charges in the US have been dropped and Kevin Spacey himself denies the accusations but has several times gone out and apologized if his behavior was hurtful or hurtful.

Hear The Local founder James Savage talk about the trial and the reactions in the UK in the clip.