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Gérard Depardieu (archive image): The actor denies the allegations
Photo: TOBIAS SCHWARZ / AFP
The 25-year-old actress Charlotte Arnould has made public that she has filed a rape lawsuit against actor Gérard Depardieu.
"I was raped by Gérard Depardieu in August 2018," wrote Arnould on Twitter: "To remain silent would mean having me buried alive." The judiciary has been investigating Depardieu for a year, who denies the allegations.
"I haven't had a normal life for three years," wrote Arnould.
She can no longer bear to live "in secret": "He works, I try to survive."
The investigation was opened on suspicion of rape and sexual assault.
The applicant's identity was initially unknown.
The actress and dancer accuses the 72-year-old of having sexually abused her twice in his Paris apartment in August 2018.
She filed a complaint in the same month, but the investigation was closed in June 2019.
The Paris public prosecutor said at the time that there were no indications of possible offenses by Depardieu.
In August 2020, the woman filed a more severe lawsuit and the investigation was transferred to an examining magistrate.
Depardieu's lawyer Hervé Temime did not want to comment on the alleged rape victim's statement.
Depardieu has already been heard in the course of the investigation.
ptz / AFP
