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Actor Gerard Depardieu has been found guilty of sexual assault.
The French film legend has been handed an 18-month suspended prison sentence and fined $32,350 (29,040 euros).
According to the Associated Press, the court has also requested that Depardieu’s name be registered in a national sex offender database.
The actor has vowed to appeal the decision.
Two accusers shared similar accounts of Depardieu’s alleged misconduct
Depardieu was charged following allegations that he groped a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant director during the making of the 2022 film The Green Shutters.
“He touched everything, including my breasts,” the set decorator alleged (per The New York Times), adding, “I was terrified, he was laughing.”
She added that Depardieu trapped her between his legs and would not let go.
“I tried to free myself, I tried to take his hands away, I couldn’t do it,” the accuser testified, according to the Times. “He terrified me, he laughed, he looked like a madman.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Depardieu has faced 20 other allegations of assault, but this is the first time he has been forced to stand trial.
Attorney Carine Durrieu-Diebolt praised the court’s decision and condemned Depardieu’s actions in a post-trial statement.
“It is the victory of two women, but it is the victory of all the women beyond this trial,” she said, via People magazine.
“Today we hope to see the end of impunity for an artist in the world of cinema. I think that with this decision we can no longer say that he is not a sexual abuser,” Durrieu-Diebolt continued.
“And today, as the Cannes Film Festival opens, I’d like the film world to spare a thought for Gérard Depardieu’s victims.”
Depardieu has yet to publicly respond to the court’s decision. An icon in his home country, the actor has accumulated more than 200 film and television credits over the course of his career.
His conviction comes as Diddy’s sex trafficking trial and Harvey Weinstein’s rape retrial continue to make global headlines.
We will have further updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.
Gerard Depardieu Found Guilty of Sexually Assaulting Two Women was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
