Gérard Depardieu targeted by a new complaint for rape filed by a Spanish journalist – Libération

2023-12-19 19:42:14

Spanish journalist and writer Ruth Baza filed a complaint for rape in Spain this Tuesday, December 19. This is the third complaint against the cinema giant for sexual violence.

A new accusation of sexual violence against Gérard Depardieu. Spanish journalist and writer Ruth Baza announced that she had filed a complaint in Spain this Tuesday, December 19, against the French actor for rape. The facts reported by the complainant allegedly took place during an interview with the French actor on October 12, 1995 in Paris, in the premises of the former production company Roissy Films. The journalist was then 23 years old and the actor 46 years old. She speaks of “an intrusion without any consent, at any time” and says she felt “paralyzed” during the events.

Ruth Baza spoke to Agence France Presse (AFP) about a “sexual assault”, confirming information from The vanguard. Asked whether it was rape, she replied in the affirmative: “The police called it that.” In Spain, the crime of “sexual assault” also includes rape under the penal code. Contacted by AFP, the police and the prosecution said they were unable to confirm the filing of this complaint, which would be the third targeting the actor for sexual violence since 2018.

“Help other people” to file a complaint

The journalist, now aged 51, explained that she had “completely” forgotten the facts until reading the investigation published by the information site Mediapart in April, in which thirteen women accused the actor of sexual violence. This article provoked in her “an inner trigger” and “flashes” of memory, corroborated by personal notes from the time, which she says she found. Feelings that can be similar to traumatic amnesia, a recurring phenomenon among victims of sexual assault.

If this complaint has little chance of succeeding on a legal level, the facts being a priori prescribed in France, the author says she has nevertheless decided to file a complaint in the hope that it can “help other people” to do so. likewise.

Gérard Depardieu has been indicted since 2020 for rape, after a complaint from actress Charlotte Arnould – accusations that he refutes. The broadcast at the beginning of December of a report from the program Complément d’investigation on the television channel France 2 caused a new shock wave. We see this figure of French cinema multiplying misogynistic and insulting remarks while addressing women, not even sparing a little girl with his obscene remarks.

At the same time, a second complaint for sexual assault was filed by actress Hélène Darras, for apparently prescribed facts dating back to 2007 on a set. The actor also denies these accusations.