Gérard Depardieu has asked to postpone his sexual assault trial, which is due to start in Paris on Monday, citing health reasons.

According to the French news agency AFP, Depardieu’s lawyer Jeremie Assous told FranceInfo that the actor is “extremely affected and unfortunately his doctors have forbidden him to be present at the hearing”.

Assous continued that Depardieu “will ask for a postponement to a later date, so that he can participate”. His trial was due to begin at 1:30 p.m. Paris time on Monday.

Depardieu’s lawyer did not immediately respond Varietyrequest for additional comments.

Depardieu is on trial for two alleged sexual assaults dating back to the filming of Jean Becker’s “The Green Shutters” (“Les volets verts”) in the south of France in August and September 2021. He was arrested by police earlier. year on April 29 and was summoned to appear before the criminal court on Monday. On the charges, Depardieu – long considered a mascot of French film history, who has starred in more than 150 films, including such classics as Jean-Paul Rappeneau’s Cyrano de Bergerac – faces five years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros.

In a letter sent to the prosecutor on February 23, Amelie K., who worked as a set decorator on “The Green Shutters”, accused Depardieu of sexually assaulting and harassing her on September 10, 2021, in during filming. Amelie K said she heard Depardieu make several rude comments and claims that one day, while she was walking past him sitting in a corridor, he grabbed her, pulled her towards him, blocked- with his feet and kneaded her waist, hips and chest while making obscene comments.

She added that she was helped by two colleagues as Depardieu left the scene accompanied by his bodyguards. After reporting the incident to the production manager, Depardieu was asked to apologize, but instead made unfriendly remarks about her for the rest of the shoot.

“The complainant explained that it took her a while to decide to make a complaint, but that she was shocked to hear on TV that there had never been an incident during filming. She added that she was not the only one who was sexually assaulted,” a spokesperson for the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office said in a statement obtained by Variety.

A second woman, Engela W., who worked as Becker’s assistant on “The Green Shutters,” accused Depardieu of sexually assaulting her on Aug. 31. She filed a complaint on March 21 this year and reported that Depardieu touched her buttocks. in the street, then touched her breasts a few days later at the location and touched her bottom again on another occasion. After expressing her refusal to be touched, she added that Depardieu began to be insulting towards her. She reported the incident to her family the same day.

Variety has reached out to Depardieu’s lawyer, Jérémie Assous, for comment on the outcome of the trial. Depardieu has previously denied all allegations. In a statement sent to Variety before the trial, Assous said, “the witnesses and the evidence he will present will show that he is just the target of false accusations.” Assous also claimed that “the true intention has just been revealed by the civil parties’ claims for compensation: to gain financially, ranging from 6,000 to 30,000 euros”.

As part of a separate case, the famous 75-year-old French actor was, as of December 16, 2020, indicted on allegations of rape and sexual assault filed by actress Charlotte Arnould in 2018.

In August, the Paris Public Prosecutor’s Office requested in a definitive indictment that Depardieu be sent to the departmental criminal court to be tried for rape by digital penetration and sexual assault that allegedly took place on August 7 and 13, 2018. The investigating magistrate has now to decide what direction to give the proceedings.

Another sexual assault complaint filed last year by actor Helene Darras, who accused Depardieu of groping and propositioning her during a 2007 shoot, has since been dropped because the statute of limitations had expired.

Last April, 13 women accused the actor of sexually inappropriate behavior in a report published by French investigative news website Médiapart. Depardieu has vehemently denied all allegations and in October wrote a letter to Le Figaro newspaper in which he stated: “I have never abused a woman.”

After sparking a watershed moment for France’s #MeToo movement, Depardieu, who was still lining up roles as of 2022, saw his career close to an end. In the last couple of years, he seems to have only starred in a small Italian horror film called “Twins”, which is in post-production.