Gérard Depardieu to face trial over rape and sexual assault allegations

French actor Gérard Depardieu has been ordered to stand trial over allegations of rape and sexual assault in 2018.

His accuser, actor Charlotte Arnould, said she was relieved the case was going to court, seven years after she filed a complaint.

Depardieu, 76, has denied the charges, insisting his relationship with Arnould was consensual.

He was convicted in May of sexually assaulting two members of a film production crew four years ago - and placed on a list of sex offenders, but not jailed. He had denied their allegations.

"Seven years later, seven years of horror and hell... I think I'm having trouble realising how huge this is. I'm relieved," Arnould wrote in a social media post.

Arnould's lawyer, Carine Durrieu Diebolt, confirmed Depardieu had been ordered to stand trial for the alleged assault and rape by digital penetration of Arnould on two occasions at his Paris home in August 2018.

"My client and I are relieved and confident. This is a form of judicial truth for Charlotte while she awaits the criminal trial," she said.

The trial's date has not yet been set.

In a letter published in Le Figaro in 2023, Depardieu denied the allegations, writing: "Never, ever, have I abused a woman."

"There was never any coercion, violence, or protest between us," he said, referring to Arnould.

The case was initially dismissed for insufficient evidence, but after Arnould filed a complaint as a civil party, a judicial investigation was opened in the summer of 2020.