Sawt Falasteen - Prosecutors ask for 18-month suspended jail for actor Depardieu

In a closing statement, the lead prosecutor also asked for Depardieu to be fined 20,000 euros ($21,500) and pay damages to the plaintiffs, two women who accuse him of sexual assault during the 2021 filming of "Les Volets Verts" ("The Green Shutters") by director Jean Becker.

The court said it would deliver its verdict on May 13.

Depardieu, a towering figure in French cinema whose lawyers argued he was the victim of a plot to bring him down, said the trial had left him feeling "tired".

"For three years, I've been dragged through the mud by lies (and) slander that are eating away at me," the 76-year-old "Cyrano de Bergerac" star told the court.

Lead prosecutor Laurent Guy said Depardieu had preyed on "women in a position of social inferiority", exploiting his celebrity status and "aura".

"What we have here are evidently sexual assaults with intent," Guy told the court.

He said Depardieu should also be ordered to undergo psychological treatment, and be included in France's sex offender registry.

The plaintiffs are a set dresser, 54, identified only as Amelie, and a 34-year-old assistant director.

Depardieu, who has acted in more than 200 films and television series, has been accused of improper behaviour by around 20 women, but this is the first case to come to trial.

The actor has denied wrongdoing. "I'm vulgar, rude, foul-mouthed, I'll accept that," he told the court on Wednesday, but added: "I don't touch."

Depardieu told the court on Tuesday the #MeToo movement would become "a reign of terror".

- 'Wild animal' -

A lawyer for one of the plaintiffs, Carine Durrieu Diebolt, said prosecutors had "demonstrated the guilt" of Depardieu.

But the actor's lawyer, Jeremie Assous, said the prosecution's case was "vague and imprecise", calling the accusations against his client "lies". He previously called the plaintiffs "liars" and "hysterical".

Claude Vincent, a lawyer for the assistant director, in turn accused Assous of lacking a defence strategy, instead mounting "a defence of sexism", and called Depardieu "misogynous".

On Wednesday, Depardieu told the court he loved women and was not a "groper" as he made a final plea.

"I adore women and femininity, I feel very feminine myself," he said, sparking laughter in the Paris courtroom.

A day earlier, he said he had grabbed Amelie, the set dresser, by the hips but only "so I wouldn't slip".

Amelie said the actor had behaved like a "wild animal".

Depardieu became a star in France from the 1980s with roles in "The Last Metro", "Police" and "Cyrano de Bergerac", before Peter Weir's "Green Card" also made him a Hollywood celebrity.

He later acted in global productions including Kenneth Branagh's "Hamlet", Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" and Netflix's "Marseille" series.

X.Habash--SF-PST