Depardieu guilty of sexual assault but is spared jail

French actor Gerard Depardieu has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a film set.

- TARA COBHAM, TOM WATLING

Depardieu was convicted of groping a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant director during the filming of Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters) in 2021.

The 76-year-old was handed an 18-month suspended sentence in a Paris court yesterday, a term requested by the prosecution during the trial, and fined €29,040 (£24,420). The court also requested that Depardieu be registered in the national sex offender database.

One of the victims, who cannot be identified, said she was “very moved” by the decision.

Depardieu is a giant of French cinema, having starred in more than 250 films. He received an Oscar nomination in 1991 for his performance as the swordsman and poet Cyrano de Bergerac. He had repeatedly denied wrongdoing during the trial, but Judge Thierry Donard, in his concluding remarks, said the actor’s explanation of events had been unconvincing.