Warning: This article can affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know a person affected by this.
A Paris court recognized Tuesday the French actor Gérard Depardieu for having sexually assaulted two women on a set in 2021 and inflicted a sentence of 18 months suspended from him.
In one of the most prominent #MeToo cases to come before the judges in France, Depardieu, an imposing figure in French cinema, had repeatedly denied any reprehensible act. But judge Thierry Donard said that the explanation of the events by Depardieu was not convincing.
One of the two complainants, Amelie K, a defined decorator, had declared in court that the actor had stained him on his entire body while he trampled her between his legs and made explicit sexual comments.
“He touched everything, including my breasts,” she told court. “I was terrified, he laughed.” The president of the president said that two witnesses corroborate her account while Depardieu had been contradictory in her own accounts.
The #MeToo protest movement against sexual violence has struggled to gain the same traction in France as in the United States, although there are signs that social attitudes towards sexual assault can change.
