Emmanuel Macron assures, in an interview in She Wednesday, that there was “no complacency” towards the actor Gérard Depardieu, claiming to have “never defended an aggressor in the face of victims”.
Depardieu will be tried next October for sexual assault
Gérard Depardieu will be tried next October in Paris for sexual assault on two women during filming in 2021. He has also been indicted since 2020 for rape and sexual assault on a young actress, Charlotte Arnould. Several other complaints have been filed against the 75-year-old actor, who denies the facts with which he is accused.
At the end of December, before the actor was summoned to court, Emmanuel Macron defended the actor, hailing a “huge actor” who “makes France proud”, and denouncing “a manhunt”. “There is no complacency on my part,” assured the President of the Republic in She, where he covers several topics considered important for women. “Just a desire to respect our principles, such as the presumption of innocence. These same principles which will allow justice to rule next October and that is a good thing,” he added.
Emmanuel Macron said he was “uncompromising on the issue of rape”
The Head of State assured that he had “deep respect, goodwill and great confidence for and in the words of women” and said he was “uncompromising on the issue of rape, domination, this culture of brutality”. “My priority has always been the protection of victims, and this is also the case for the Depardieu affair,” he continued.
Hailing “the courage” of actresses Judith Godrèche, Juliette Binoche and Isild le Besco, who denounced sexual violence in the cinema industry, Emmanuel Macron underlines that “the highlighting of the truth is done through free speech, through work of journalists, through the work of investigators, then, alone, establishes guilt,” he added.
The Head of State wishes to change the definition of rape in France
Emmanuel Macron also recalled his intention to change the definition of rape in France by integrating the notion of consent. Parliamentarians are “working on the subject with the Minister of Justice so that a proposed text can see the light of day by the end of the year”, he said.
Carried by the #MeToo shock wave, voices have been raised for several months for France to integrate the notion of consent into its law, like other European countries. The #MeToo movement “reassured me, made me doubt, revealed things to me,” he admitted.