PARIS (AP) — French film star Gérard Depardieu has been ordered to stand trial before a criminal court in Paris over allegations of rape and sexual assault against actor Charlotte Arnould.
“I feel relieved,” Arnould, 29, wrote on Instagram on Tuesday, announcing that she had received the investigating judge's indictment order. “The order restores a form of judicial truth. I think I’m having trouble realizing how huge this is.”
Arnould has said that the alleged crimes took place at Depardieu’s Paris home on Aug. 7 and Aug. 13, 2018. She was 22 and he was 69 at the time. He has denied wrongdoing.
“The acts of rape and sexual assault have been acknowledged,” Arnould said. “Now, we await the next steps.”
No date for the trial has been set yet, and there was no official comment from the court.
Arnould's lawyer, Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, said in a statement that she and Arnould were “relieved and confident," describing the decision as a “moment of judicial truth” in the case, pending trial.
Prosecutors submitted a request last year for the case to proceed to trial.
The 76-year-old Depardieu, one of the most prominent figures in French cinema for decades, has faced a series of accusations of wrongdoing against women in recent years.
He was convicted earlier this year of sexually assaulting two women on a film set and received an 18-month suspended prison sentence. The case was widely seen as a post-#MeToo test for the country’s film industry. Arnould attended that trial.
In that case, Depardieu was convicted of groping a 54-year-old woman responsible for decorating the set and a 34-year-old assistant during the filming of “Les Volets Verts” (“The Green Shutters”) in 2021. The court ordered his name to be listed in the national sex offender database.
The actor has been accused publicly or in formal complaints of misconduct by more than 20 women in all, but so far only the sexual assault case has proceeded to court. Other cases were dropped because of a lack of evidence or because the statute of limitations expired.
For more than a half-century, Depardieu stood as a towering figure in French cinema, a titan known for his commanding physical presence, instinct, sensibility and remarkable versatility. A bon vivant who overcame a speech impediment and a turbulent youth, Depardieu rose to prominence in the 1970s and became one of France’s most prolific and acclaimed actors, portraying a vast array of characters, from volatile outsiders to deeply introspective figures. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1991 for his performance as the swordsman and poet Cyrano de Bergerac.
In recent years, his behavior toward women has come under renewed scrutiny, including after a documentary showed him repeatedly making obscene remarks and gestures during a 2018 trip to North Korea.
FILE - Actor Charlotte Arnould leaves actor Gerard Depardieu's trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, File)
FILE - Actor Gerard Depardieu arrives with his lawyer Jeremie Assous, right, to face trial for the alleged sexual assaults of two women on a film set in 2021, Monday, March 24, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard, file)
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Qatar’s prime minister on Saturday said the Gaza ceasefire has reached a “critical moment” as its first phase winds down, with the remains of just one Israeli hostage still held by militants in Gaza.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told an international conference in the Qatari capital that international mediators, led by the U.S., are working “to force the way forward” to the second phase to cement the deal.
“What we have just done is a pause,” he told the Doha Forum. “We cannot consider it yet a ceasefire.”
“A ceasefire cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of Israeli forces, there is stability back in Gaza, people can go in and out, which is not the case today,” he said.
While the ceasefire halted the heavy fighting of the two-year war, Gaza health officials say that over 360 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the truce took effect in October.
In new violence, two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike northwest of Gaza City, Shifa Hospital said.
There was no immediate comment from Israel. But the Israeli army says it has carried out a number of attacks on Palestinians crossing the ceasefire lines into Israeli-controlled territory in Gaza.
The first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace plan took effect Oct. 10. The fighting stopped and dozens of hostages held in Gaza were exchanged for hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli prison. Israel sent a delegation last week to Egypt for talks on returning the remains of the last hostage.
The next phase, which includes the deployment of an international security force in Gaza, formation of a new technocratic government for the territory, disarmament of Hamas and an eventual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, has not yet begun.
Arab and Western officials told The Associated Press on Friday that an international body overseeing the ceasefire, to be led by Trump himself, is expected to be appointed by the end of the year. In the long term, the plan also calls for a possible “pathway” to Palestinian independence.
Sheikh Mohammed said that even the upcoming phase should be “temporary” and that peace in the region could only take place with the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state — something that is opposed by Israel's hard-line government.
“If we are just resolving what happened in Gaza, the catastrophe that happened in the last two years, it’s not enough,” he said. “There is a root for this conflict. And this conflict is not only about Gaza."
He added: “It’s about Gaza. It’s about the West Bank. It’s about the rights of the Palestinians for their state. We are hoping that we can work together with the U.S. administration to achieve this vision at the end of the day.”
Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said there is a “big question” over the formation of an international security force for Gaza. Speaking at the same conference, he said it's unclear which countries will be joining the force, what the command structure would look like and what its “first mission” will be.
Turkey is one of the “guarantors” of the ceasefire, but Israel, which has rocky relations with the Ankara government, has rejected any Turkish participation in the force.
“Thousands of details, questions are in place,” Fidan said. "I think once we deploy ISF, the rest will come.”
The war erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants entered Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking over 250 people hostage. Israel responded with an offensive that has killed over 70,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says that nearly half the dead have been women and children. The ministry is part of Gaza's Hamas government and its numbers are considered reliable by the U.N. and other international bodies.
Israel accuses Hamas of using civilians as human shields.
Find more of AP’s Israel-Hamas coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Tents sheltering displaced Palestinians stand amid the destruction left by the Israeli air and ground offensive in Gaza City Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
