Actor and director Nicolas Bedos, 44, is on trial this Thursday, February 8 before the Paris Criminal Court, accused of
“sexual assault while drunk”
by a 25-year-old young woman
.
The facts denounced allegedly took place on the night of June 1 to 2, 2023 inside the private club “
Sauvages
”, rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in the 1st arrondissement of Paris.
In a complaint that
Le Figaro
was able to consult, the complainant explained that she had seen an individual walking towards her, with his head down.
“
I saw his gaze squarely on me.
Suddenly, he reached out with his right hand to my panties while I was in jeans
,” the complainant said in her statement.
The complainant specified that she felt a
“friction”
.
The young woman indicated that she then recognized the director Nicolas Bedos.
“
You’re not going to hit me there!”
», the forty-year-old would have retorted, then heavily intoxicated.
“
Go get treatment!”
», She allegedly told him, just before a security guard took him out of the establishment.
An “accidental” gesture, according to the actor’s lawyer
“This trial will be an opportunity to question Nicolas Bedos on his notion of consent
,” indicates to Le
Figaro
Me Tewfik Bouzenoune, lawyer for the plaintiff.
“What we expect is justice, truth and above all sincerity”
from Nicolas Bedos, continues the lawyer.
“I dare to hope that he will be judged like anyone else
,” he says.
“
Nicolas Bedos was able to explain himself to the investigators.
He does not want to question the word of the complainant who describes an inappropriate gesture of a few seconds over the jeans, but such a gesture, which he does not remember, which would have occurred on the dance floor of a nightclub, could only have been accidental under the influence of intoxication.
He also apologized to the complainant
,” said Julia Minkowski, the actor’s lawyer, at the time of the incident.
He faces five years of imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros.
The actor will also be tried in September 2024 for
“sexual assault and sexual harassment”
for acts from June 2018 and May 2023.