Gérard Depardieu was indicted on December 16 for "rape" and "sexual assault".
Facts he allegedly committed in the summer of 2018 on a young actress in her twenties who initially lodged a complaint by going to the Lambesc gendarmerie, in the Bouches-du-Rhône, at the end of August 2018.
"I am innocent and I have nothing to fear," actor Gérard Depardieu told Italian newspaper
La Repubblica
on Thursday, reacting to the revelation of his indictment for "rape".
"For me the investigation was closed, I am innocent and I have nothing to fear," said the actor questioned on the set of a new film by director Patrice Leconte, where he plays the famous commissioner Maigret.
Gérard Depardieu evokes "the totally unfounded character of the accusations", adding: "There is no proof, there is nothing against me."
"I can only refute in very clear terms all the accusations, as I have already done before the investigators", he insisted, announcing that he would appear in court on March 10 to reaffirm his innocence .
"Negative news"
AFP revealed on Tuesday that the 72-year-old actor was indicted on December 16 in Paris for two "rapes" and "sexual assaults" of which a young actress accuses him since the summer of 2018. The actor is said "very puzzled over the decision to reopen the investigation", yet classified for "for lack of evidence".
He also prefers to "avoid talking" about the young actress who brought the charges against him.
"I find the media coverage of the case terrible. We live in an era dominated by a continuous and ruthless flow of information," he lamented.
"With all these streaming channels, the new means of communication, the websites, the social networks, it is as if we are living with a headset which constantly transmits negative and often false and biased news. I hate it all," he added.