Courts Gerard Depardieu, again accused of rape
Gérard Depardieu
(72)
has spoken for the first time after being accused of rape and battery by a young actress.
"I am innocent", declared the popular French actor in an interview with the Italian newspaper
La Repubblica
, in which he assures that they are unfounded accusations and that there is no evidence against him.
Depardieu has made the remarks after Paris prosecutors confirmed that
he faces trial and prison
for the attacks allegedly perpetrated against a 22-year-old girl at her Paris home in 2018.
"There is no proof, there is nothing against me and therefore I am very serene," says the actor to the Italian media in an interview during the
filming of the new film by director Patrice Leconte,
in which he plays the commissioner Maigret .
"For me,
the investigation was closed for lack of evidence
. In court I will reaffirm my innocence. I am innocent and I have nothing to fear," reiterates the actor.
"The only thing I can do is reject with very clear terms all the accusations, as I already did before the investigators," he adds.
Judicial sources revealed to the agency France Presse on Tuesday that the actor had been charged
on December 16 in Paris for "
rape
" and
"sexual assaults
"
.
The events would have occurred in August 2018 and
had been reported and archived.
Last summer, the victim managed to
reopen the case
after becoming a civil party in his new complaint, which implies the quasi-automatic appointment of an
investigating judge.
The actor said that "he is very surprised by the court's decision to reopen the investigation."
In addition, he lashes out at the
media coverage of the case
and denounces that we live in "an era dominated by a continuous and ruthless flow of information that flows online."
The complainant is a
young actress whose father knows Depardieu
, who offered to advise her on her career.
The young woman claims that
the actor abused her after an informal rehearsal for a play,
reports
Le Parisien
.
The events would have occurred at the
actor's home
, a mansion in the 6th district of Paris, on August 7 and 13, 2018.
At the end of that month, the actress
He was reported to a gendarmerie in Lambesc (Bouches du Rhône), so the judicial procedure was opened in Aix-en Provence, before being sent to Paris.
In June 2019, the prosecution requested the filing of the proceedings, explaining that "the numerous investigations carried out had not made it possible to find all the elements that constitute the reported infractions."
The complainant managed last August to reopen the investigations by becoming a civil party while reiterating her complaint.
A
confrontation between the young woman and Depardieu
has already taken place in police stations according to Agence France Presse.
French media have reported that there are images of Depardieu performing a sexual act with his alleged victim in August 2018.
Depardieu has acted in some 170 films, including
Asterix
or
Cyrano de Beregerac
as well as in
Green Card.
Controversial and excessive, he also has
Russian citizenship since 2013.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
Know more
See links of interest
2021 business calendar
Zenit Saint Petersburg - Valencia Basket
Napoli - Granada CF
Villarreal - FC Red Bull Salzburg
Real Madrid - Zalgiris Kaunas
Manchester United - Real Sociedad