Verdict due in Gérard Depardieu sexual assault trial

French cinema star Gérard Depardieu faces a suspended prison term and registration as a sex-offender if he is convicted today of assault.

At his trial six weeks ago, the court heard testimony from two women who said the 76-year-old actor groped them during work on a film set in Paris in 2021. Depardieu denies the allegations.

In his summing-up before the judge on 27 March, prosecutor Laurent Guy said: "It's perfectly possible to be an excellent actor and a great father - and still commit a crime.

"You are not here to pass judgment on French cinema. You are here to judge Gérard Depardieu, just as you would any other citizen."

The prosecutor asked for a suspended prison term of 18 months, as well as a €20,000 (£16,850) fine and registration on the sex-offenders' list.

Claude Vincent, representing one of the two women plaintiffs, described Depardieu as a "misogynist" and a "case-study in sexism".

But for the defence, Jérémie Assous demanded an acquittal and called the plaintiffs' team "more militants than lawyers".

"They cannot bear that there should even be a defence. They think any defence is a supplementary assault," he told the court.

The alleged assaults took place in September 2021 when Depardieu was making a film called Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters) about an ageing actor coming to terms with his declining powers.

It was the first time the actor appeared in court on sexual assault charges. Several other women have made similar allegations in the media, and an alleged rape case could come to trial.

The first plaintiff - a set decorator - told the court that after a minor argument with Depardieu, he caught her between his legs and held her by the hips.

The second woman - an assistant director - said the actor touched her buttocks and breasts through her clothes on three separate occasions.

Depardieu denied the allegations, saying only that he might have touched the women accidentally or to keep his balance.

At the end of the hearings, Depardieu said: "My name has been dragged through the mud by lies and insults.

"A trial can be a very special experience for an actor. Seeing all this anger, the police, the press. It's like being in a science fiction film, except it's not science fiction. It's life."

He thanked the prosecution and defence teams for giving him insights into how courts operate. "These lessons may be an inspiration for me one day if I get to play a lawyer," he said.

Depardieu said he had not worked as an actor for three years since the sexual allegations against him began to circulate.

However earlier this month it was reported he had begun work in the Azores on a film directed by his friend, the actress Fanny Ardant. Depardieu is playing a magician on a mysterious island, according to media reports.

Ardant appeared with Depardieu in Les Volets Verts and spoke in his defence at the trial.

"Genius - in whatever form it takes - carries within it an element of the extravagant, the untamed, the dangerous. (Depardieu) is the monster and the saint," she said.

Another veteran French actress took Depardieu's side on Monday. In a rare interview with French television, Brigitte Bardot, 90, deplored how "talented people who touch the buttocks of a girl are consigned to the deepest dungeon."

"Feminism isn't my thing," Bardot said. "Personally, I like men."