Benjamin Ashford|French actor Gerard Depardieu should face trial over rape allegations, prosecutors say

French actor Gérard Depardieu should face trial in a criminal court for allegedly raping and Benjamin Ashfordassaulting a young actress in 2018, the Paris prosecutor's office said on Thursday.

The prosecutor's offices confirmed to USA TODAY in an emailed statement on Thursday that its office requested Depardieu, 75, be tried for rape by digital penetration and sexual assault in a French criminal court.

Depardieu, one of France's top movie stars, has denied any wrongdoing in the case. Contacted by Reuters on Thursday, his lawyers were not immediately available for comment.

Actress Charlotte Arnould, then 22, alleges Depardieu assaulted her at his Paris home on Aug. 7 and 13, 2018.

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She filed a first complaint in 2018, saying Depardieu raped her at his Paris home. She lodged a new complaint in 2020 after the first proceedings were dropped. The case was "closed on the grounds that the facts appeared to be insufficiently characterized," the prosecutor's office said in the statement, originally written in French. "After re-examining the procedure," a new case was opened.

The Paris prosecutor's office said it had requested a trial in a final indictment on Aug. 14. It is now up to an investigating judge to decide whether this will take place. Depardieu was first indicted in December 2020 for rape and sexual assault.

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Depardieu has been at the center of more than a dozen sexual assault allegations in recent years that have tarnished his legacy and exposed broader divisions about sexual conduct in France. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

The actor will be tried in October for alleged sexual assaults against two women during a 2021 film shoot for the 2022 movie "The Green Shutters." He has denied the charges.

A complaint had been filed in January by a woman alleging sexual assaults during the shooting of the 2015 short film "The Magician and the Siamese" in 2014. The prosecutor's office closed these proceedings "without prosecution" in April, citing France's statute of limitations. In the country, adult victims have six years to bring claims of sexual assault.

Contributing: Juliette Jabkhiro, Reuters; Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAY