Gerard Depardieu accused of rape by Spanish journalist

(FILES) French actor Gérard Depardieu is awarded with the Legion of Honour at the Elysée Palace in Paris on May 2, 1996. (Photo by Vincent AMALVY / AFP)

MADRID, Spain — A Spanish journalist and author said Tuesday that she had filed a criminal complaint in Spain against French cinema superstar Gerard Depardieu, claiming that he raped her nearly three decades ago in Paris.

Ruth Baza, 51, told AFP she filed the complaint with Spanish police on Thursday, saying the alleged rape happened when she interviewed Depardieu in Paris on October 12, 1995, for the magazine Cinemania.

The complaint was first reported by the Barcelona-based newspaper La Vanguardia.

Baza, who at the time was 23 while Depardieu was 46, spoke of “an intrusion without any consent, at any time,” adding that she felt “paralyzed” during the incident.

It allegedly took place on the premises of the former production company Roissy Films.

She initially spoke to AFP of “sexual assault” but when asked if she had been raped, she said yes.

“The police described it as such,” she said.

Under Spain’s sexual consent law passed last year, the charge of sexual assault takes in a wide array of crimes, from online abuse and groping to rape, each with different possible punishments.

A rape conviction can carry a maximum sentence of 15 years.

Contacted by AFP, police and prosecutors said they were not able to confirm if Baza had filed a criminal complaint against the actor.

Depardieu, an icon of French cinema with more than 200 roles to his name, was charged with rape in France in 2020 and has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by more than a dozen women.

A French television report this month that included footage of the 74-year-old making sexist comments has thrown the allegations back in the limelight and reignited a debate about sexism in French cinema.

Baza told AFP that she had “completely” forgotten the alleged assault until she read an investigation published by the news website Mediapart in April, in which 13 women accused Depardieu of sexual violence.

The article provoked “an inner click” and “flashes” of memory, which she said she corroborated by personal notes she took at the time.

The criminal complaint has little chance of leading to charges against the actor since the events it refers to have already passed the statute of limitations in France.

Baza said she decided to file her complaint despite this in the hope that it would “help other people” to do the same.