Depardieu rape case should be reopened, say prosecutors
FRENCH prosecutors announced yesterday they wanted an investigation into rape allegations against actor Gerard Depardieu to be reopened after an inquiry was dropped last year.
A 22-year-old actress has accused Depardieu of assaulting and raping her in his Paris home in August 2018. He denies any wrongdoing.
After she reported her allegations against the actor, who is 71, prosecutors in the southern city of Aix-en-Provence opened a preliminary investigation. They passed it on to their Paris colleagues, but it was dropped after nine months. Prosecutors said they had failed to find evidence to bring charges against Depardieu.
In a switch of tactics, the actress has relaunched proceedings by acting as an “injured party”. Under French law, that almost always leads to a case being examined by an investigating magistrate.
Herve Temime, Depardieu’s lawyer, declined to comment. When the allegations emerged, Mr Temime, said the actor was “shaken” and that the claims went against “everything [the actor] is and respects”.
Depardieu, an often controversial figure, is a superstar in France.
He has performed in 170 films, winning his big break in 1973 with
(Going Places). He won a best actor award for at Cannes in 1990, and was nominated for an Oscar for the same role. Peter Weir’s
an English-language comedy made the same year, brought him further acclaim.
Off-screen, he has made headlines in recent years for attacking what he described as France’s punitive tax laws. He moved to Belgium for a time in protest eight years ago.