Prosecutors ask for 18-months suspended jail for French actor Depardieu

Pallade Veneta - Prosecutors ask for 18-months suspended jail for French actor Depardieu

Prosecutors ask for 18-months suspended jail for French actor Depardieu / Photo: JULIEN DE ROSA - AFP

Prosecutors in the sexual abuse trial of Gerard Depardieu on Thursday recommended a suspended jail sentence of 18 months for the French star actor.

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The lead prosecutor, in a closing statement, also asked for Depardieu to be fined 20,000 euros ($21,500) and pay damages to the plaintiffs, two women who accuse him of sexual assault during the filming in 2021 of "Les Volets Verts" ("The Green Shutters") by director Jean Becker.

The plaintiffs are a set dresser, 54, identified only as Amelie, and a 34-year-old assistant director.

Depardieu, who has acted in more than 200 films and television series, has been accused of improper behaviour by around 20 women but this is the first case to come to trial.

The 76-year-old is the highest-profile figure to face accusations in French cinema's response to the #MeToo movement, which he told the court on Tuesday would become "a reign of terror".

Depardieu has denied any wrongdoing. "I'm vulgar, rude, foul-mouthed, I'll accept that," he told the court on Wednesday, but "I don't touch."

Depardieu became a star in France from the 1980s with roles in "The Last Metro", "Police" and "Cyrano de Bergerac", before Peter Weir's "Green Card" also made him a Hollywood celebrity.

He later acted in global productions including Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet", Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" and Netflix's "Marseille" series.

The court is to hear the defence's closing statement next.

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