France prosecutors request rape trial for Depardieu
It is now up to the investigating magistrate to decide whether to order a trial.
Depardieu, who has acted in more than 200 films and television series, is the highest-profile figure caught up in France's response to the #MeToo movement.
More than a dozen women have accused him of abuse.
A Paris court in May handed Depardieu an 18-month suspended sentence after convicting him of having sexually assaulted two women on a film set in 2021 in a separate case.
Prosecutors had already requested a trial of Depardieu over Arnould's allegations in August last year.
But the investigation into Depardieu was then re-opened over remarks the film star made in a television report that sparked outrage.
In the report aired on France 2 on December 2023, viewers saw Depardieu make repeated degrading and sexual comments about women during a trip to North Korea. In one scene, he appeared to speak sexually about a young girl riding a horse.
The actor argued he had never spoken in such a way about the girl and requested an expert to weigh in, causing the case to be reopened.
The expert said in May the sexual comments were indeed "aimed at a girl on a poney", according to a document seen by AFP.
Now that has been concluded, prosecutors have repeated their request for a trial.
"What a relief," the plaintiff, 29-year-old Arnould, said on Instagram.
But she said she remained cautious.
"We need to wait for the investigating judge" to make a decision, she added, seven years after the alleged offences.
The actor in late 2021 publicly accused Depardieu, a family friend, of raping her twice in August 2018 when she was 22 and anorexic.
She said she weighed 37 kilos at the time.
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