PARIS (AP) — The plaintiffs’ attorneys known as French actor Gérard Depardieu a sexual predator and a “misogynist” Thursday of their closing plea at a Paris trial over accusations that he sexually assaulted two ladies who have been engaged on a movie with him.
The actor, 76, is accused of getting groped a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant throughout filming of the film “Les Volets Verts” (“The Green Shutters”) in 2021. He has denied the accusations.
He faces as much as 5 years in jail and a high quality of 75,000 euros ($81,000) if convicted. The decision is anticipated at a later date.
The set dresser’s lawyer, Carine Durrieu Diebolt, known as Depardieu a sexual predator who dedicated misconduct for many years in direction of “little people” within the cinema world.
:Perhaps you suppose he’s an amazing actor and you’re keen on his movies,” she said. “Depardieu can be a sexual predator.”
His standing as a world-renowned actor made him each a creative and an financial energy within the movie trade, in distinction with the plaintiffs who risked being blacklisted in the event that they communicate up, Durrieu Diebolt mentioned, denouncing what she known as a “system of impunity.”
“M. Depardieu, when he’s touching women’s bodies, he’s exercising his power over them,” she mentioned.
On Tuesday, Depardieu acknowledged that he had used vulgar and sexualized language with the set dresser who accused him of sexual assault. He mentioned he grabbed her hips throughout an argument, however denied that his conduct was sexual.
The lawyer for the opposite plaintiff, Claude Vincent, began her plea with a minutes-long listing of obscene phrases and different vulgar expressions hardly ever heard in a courtroom, saying: “That’s how Gerard Depardieu behaves on a film set, that the atmosphere he’s imposing around him.”
“No, you can’t separate the man from the artist,” she mentioned. “He’s Gérard Depardieu, a misogynist amid misogynists.”
The plaintiff, a movie assistant, mentioned Depardieu groped her buttocks and her breasts throughout three separate incidents on the movie set.
Depardieu has rejected the accusations for the reason that starting of the trial Monday, saying he’s “not like that.”
The actor is being tried by a panel of three judges, not a jury, which is regular for such instances. The judges don’t subject their verdict immediately however usually deliberate for weeks or months.
