French actor Gerard Depardieu convicted of sexual assault on a 2021 film set

Paris: A court in Paris on Tuesday found French actor Gerard Depardieu guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021 and handed him an 18-month suspended prison sentence.

In one of the highest-profile #MeToo cases to come before judges in France, Depardieu, a towering figure of French cinema, had repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. But judge Thierry Donard said Depardieu's explanation of events had been unconvincing.

One of the two plaintiffs, Amelie K, a set decorator, had told the court the actor had groped her all over her body as he trapped her between his legs and made explicit sexual comments.

"He touched everything, including my breasts," she told the court. "I was terrified, he was laughing."

The presiding judge said two witnesses corroborated her account whilst Depardieu had been contradictory in his own accounts.

The #MeToo protest movement over sexual violence has struggled to gain the same traction in France as in the United States, though there are signs that social attitudes towards sexual assault may be changing.