Original title: Gérard Depardieu to Stand Trial on Rape Charges
A French investigative judge has ordered veteran actor Gerard Depardieu to stand trial for an alleged 2018 rape and sexual assault of actress Charlotte Arnould. Arnould alleges that Depardieu, a friend of her father’s, raped her on two separate occasions in the summer of 2018 when she had visited his Parisian home to ask for advice. Arnould was 22 years old at the time. The Green Card and Cyrano de Bergerac actor was 69. France‘s biggest film star facing a trial over rape and sexual assault allegations comes as the nation’s film industry grapples with its #MeToo moment. As part of an earlier trial and conviction, Depardieu was given a 18-month suspended prison sentence after two women accused the French acting legend of assaulting them on the set of French film The Green Shutters in 2021. The new trial over a complaint by Arnould will take place in a French criminal court, which has jurisdiction over serious crimes punishable by five years or more of imprisonment if a conviction is rea