The Depardieu uproar has no end and goes beyond the Pyrenees: The Spanish journalist and writer Ruth Baza, for her part, has filed a complaint in Spain against the French actor for rape for acts that took place in Paris in 1995.
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On October 12, 1995, Ruth Baza was 23 years old and Gérard Depardieu was 46 years old: the journalist came to Paris to interview the French actress for the magazine Cinemanía and during this interview she said that she had been raped.
Last Thursday, the now 51-year-old author filed a complaint with the Spanish police, she told AFP on Tuesday, confirming information from the Spanish daily newspaper La Vanguardia.
She spoke to AFP of a “break-in without any consent, at any time” and said she felt “paralyzed” during the events, which she said took place on the premises of the former production company Roissy Films.
Ruth Baza speaks of “sexual assault” because in Spain, according to the penal code, this crime also includes rape.
But when asked about the facts of the case, she replied that it was actually a case of rape: “The police described it as such.”
Police and prosecutors told AFP they could not confirm the filing of this complaint. This is the third report of sexual violence against the actor since 2018.
“As we started the interview, we both stood up and suddenly he hugged me. He starts kissing me all over my face. He kissed me on the mouth and I couldn't move,” Ruth Baza told AFP.
“He touched my body and he touched my crotch, I couldn’t move. “I couldn't move and he kissed me, he kissed me,” she repeated, saying she was “petrified” and didn't do it.[sentait] Nothing”.
The journalist explains that she had “completely” forgotten the facts until she read the investigation published in April by the information site Mediapart, in which thirteen women accused the actor of sexual violence.
This article triggered, as she says, “an inner trigger” and “flashes of memory,” which is supported by personal notes from the time that she claims to have found.
Prescribed facts
From a legal point of view, this complaint has little chance of success, as the facts are prescribed in France from the outset.
However, Ruth Baza explains that she decided to file a complaint in the hope that it might “help other people” do the same.
Gérard Depardieu, a French national icon, like Alain Delon or Brigitte Bardot, known all over the world, has long seemed to benefit from a certain leniency. And this even after his accusation of rape in 2020, after he lodged a complaint from the then twenty-year-old actress Charlotte Arnould, facts which he refutes.
The broadcast of a report from the “Complément d'investigation” program on the France 2 television channel at the beginning of December triggered a new shock wave. We see how this figure of French cinema multiplies misogynistic and offensive remarks while addressing women, not even sparing a little girl with his obscene remarks.
At the same time, actress Hélène Darras filed a second complaint of sexual assault, apparently on a set in 2007. The actor also denies these allegations.