Spanish journalist and writer Ruth Baza announced Tuesday that she had filed a complaint in Spain against French actor Gérard Depardieu for rape for acts dating back to 1995 in Paris.
The 51-year-old author told AFP that she filed a complaint last Thursday with the Spanish police for a rape which allegedly took place during an interview with the French actor on October 12, 1995 in Paris for the magazine Cinemaniathus confirming information revealed by the Spanish daily La Vanguardia.
Ruth Baza, who was 23 at the time and the actor was 46, spoke of “an intrusion without any consent, at any time” and said she felt “paralyzed” during the events, which allegedly took place in the premises of the former production company Roissy Films.
In Spain, the offense of “sexual assault” also includes rape under the penal code.
Ruth Baza spoke to AFP about a “sexual assault”, but when asked whether it was rape, Mme Baza responded in the affirmative: “the police called it that.”
Contacted by AFP, the police and the prosecution said they were not able to confirm the filing of this complaint, which would be the third targeting the actor for sexual violence since 2018.
The journalist explained to AFP that she had “completely” forgotten the facts until reading the investigation published by the news 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 that she says she found.
From a legal point of view, this complaint has little chance of success, the facts being a priori prescribed in France.
However, she explains that she decided to file a complaint in the hope that it could “help other people” to do the same.
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 show Further investigation on the France 2 television channel 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.