Sex assault complaint against French film legend Gerald Depardieu is dropped due to statute of limitations, prosecutors say as he faces accusations from more than a dozen women
A 2007 sex abuse complaint filed last year against French film legend Gerald Depardieu had expired, prosecutors said Monday.
Depardieu, 75, has been charged with rape in another case and accused of sexual harassment and assault by more than a dozen women, allegations he denies.
Actor Helene Darras, who said Depardieu groped her and propositioned her during a 2007 film shoot, had her charges dropped late last month, the Paris prosecutor’s office told AFP.
Neither Darras nor Depardieu’s lawyers were immediately available for comment when contacted by French news agency AFP.
Darras had already spoken to investigators and news site Mediapart in 2022 before filing her complaint in September, she told AFP last month.
Gerald Depardieu, 75, has been accused of rape in another case and has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by more than a dozen women, allegations he denies
Actor Helene Darras (pictured), who said Depardieu groped her and propositioned her during a 2007 film shoot, had her charges dropped late last month, the Paris prosecutor’s office told AFP.
“It took a year before I could talk about what happened with the criminal case,” she said at the time.
“Walking through the door of a police station and telling an officer that someone has touched your private parts is not easy, you need time to think about it,” she added.
But she “wanted to respond to the defense downplaying our allegations by saying they are ‘just’ witness statements,” Darras said.
In an interview with broadcaster France 2, she accused Depardieu of touching her hips and buttocks and inviting her into his dressing room.
She also accused him of continuing even after she refused.
Depardieu was accused of rape and sexual assault in 2020 after another actor, Charlotte Arnould, filed her own complaint over allegations from 2018.
There is CCTV footage of Depardieu performing a sex act with Arnould at his Paris mansion in August 2018, but he insists it was consensual.
Ms Arnould waived her legal right to anonymity at the end of 2021, after Depardieu was accused of rape and sexual assault.
Arnould’s lawyer has also asked Paris prosecutors to investigate a recording of Depardieu making derogatory comments about women during a filming trip to North Korea, which was later passed on to France 2.
In a separate case, Spanish journalist and author Ruth Baza said she filed a criminal complaint against Depardieu in Spain last month, alleging he raped her in Paris nearly 30 years ago.
The complaint has little hope of leading to charges due to the statute of limitations in France, but Baza said she decided to go ahead anyway in the hope it would “help other people” do the same.
A feminist activist holds a sign reading “On the side of the victims, not the side of the perpetrators” during a demonstration in front of the courthouse in Nantes, western France, on January 11, after Macron commented on the Depardieu case
The president said last month that Depardieu should enjoy the presumption of innocence, calling him an “immense actor” who “makes France proud” and saying he was now the victim of a “manhunt.” Pictured: Feminist protesters in France, January 11, holding #MeToo signs
Repeated allegations of sexual assault against Depardieu have become a frontline of the culture war in France.
The allegations have divided the film world, with feminist groups pitted against the actor’s defenders, including President Emmanuel Macron.
The president said last month that Depardieu should enjoy the presumption of innocence, calling him an “immense actor” who “makes France proud” and saying he was now the victim of a “manhunt.”
‘If someone keeps accusing you of the worst and you have a public role, you can no longer do anything, then there is distrust and it is no longer a democracy. We are no longer free citizens,” Macron said in comments that sparked anger.
Macron has also said Depardieu should not be stripped of his Legion d’Honneur – France’s highest civilian award – because “it is not a moral instrument.”
This is despite Rima Abdul Malak, Macron’s own culture minister, saying Depardieu has “shamed France” with his all-round sexist behavior and should not keep the Legion d’Honneur.
Macron recently admitted that he had “not said enough how important the words of women who are victims of this violence are.”
Within days of his indictment, Depardieu was back working on the Paris location of the police drama Maigret And The Dead Girl, in which he starred with Jade Labeste.
In October, he broke his silence on claims that he is a serial sexual abuser, saying: “I am neither a rapist nor a predator.”
He accused enemies of subjecting him to a media “lynching” and expressed his anger in an open letter in the newspaper Le Figaro.
French actress Charlotte Arnould (pictured) made public her accusation that Depardieu, 74, raped her at his Parisian mansion. Ms Arnould, 33, waived her legal right to anonymity in late 2021 to protest the length of the investigation
The Charlotte Arnould case is currently before the French courts after an attempt by Depardieu’s counsel to quash the charges was rejected.
The accusations against Depardieu follow a series of MeToo complaints against powerful men in the Paris art establishment, who allegedly raped or otherwise abused young women working as models and actresses.
Such scandals have led to demonstrations by women’s groups at high-profile show business events, calling on female actors to stop working with allegedly abusive men.
In 2017, President Macron withdrew the Legion of Honor from Harvey Weinstein following a series of allegations of sexual harassment and rape, ultimately resulting in the Hollywood mogul being jailed.