“
To keep silent is to bury me alive
”.
One year to the day after the indictment of Gérard Depardieu for "
rape
" and "
sexual assault
", the actress Charlotte Arnould decided to speak.
She revealed on Twitter to be Gérard Depardieu's accuser.
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“I need to live in the truth. I live hidden and in silence. It is no longer bearable. I need to express myself. I was raped by Gérard Depardieu in August 2018. He has been indicted for a year. He works while I spend my time surviving,
”explains the 25-year-old actress.
Aware that this catch of light could be
"a huge shock in [her] life"
, she explains that she won nothing in the case
"except the hope of recovering [her] integrity."
Contacted by AFP, neither Me Élodie Tuaillon-Hibon, lawyer for the complainant, nor Me Hervé Temime, defender of Gérard Depardieu, wished to comment on this speech.
Closed and then relaunched
At the same time actress, musician and dancer, Charlotte Arnould had filed a complaint against the actor at the end of August 2018, in the Bouches-du-Rhône.
The facts would have taken place in the apartment of the 72-year-old actor, located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris.
Read also Actor Gérard Depardieu indicted in December for alleged "rapes" in 2018
Gérard Depardieu and the young woman know each other.
The actor is a friend of the young woman.
On August 7, 2018, they meet in the street, and he allegedly invited her to his apartment to give him advice on his career.
Arrived in her private mansion, she claims to have been the victim of a
"digital penetration"
in the living room.
Another sexual assault allegedly took place in the bedroom.
An account of the facts to the investigators, reported by BFM TV, but that the actor refutes
On August 13, the young woman would have suffered a new sexual assault, when she returned to have explanations with the actor.
The exchanges of SMS and the images of CCTV, which would have captured the first assault of August 7, are exploited by the investigators.
The complaint was initially closed without follow-up, the prosecution considering that the elements collected had
"not made it possible to characterize the offenses denounced in all their constituent elements".
The case was finally taken up by a new investigating judge in the summer of 2020. A confrontation was organized in August of the same year between Charlotte Arnould and Gérard Depardieu.
On December 16, 2020, the latter was finally indicted for
“rape”
and
“sexual assault.”
To read alsoAccused of "rape", Gérard Depardieu defends himself: "There is no proof, I am innocent and I have nothing to fear"
Since his indictment, revealed by AFP, Gérard Depardieu has been heard on the merits by the investigating judge, according to sources familiar with the case.
He disputes the facts and has been left free without judicial review.
According to these same sources, the actor requested from the investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal the nullity of his indictment, but the request has not yet been examined.
Investigations are still ongoing.
