A Paris court has rejected a bid by star actor Gérard Depardieu to have rape charges against him dropped, with the prosecution set to continue its investigation into the allegations.
The 73-year-old actor was charged with raping and sexually assaulting a young French actress at his home in Paris in 2018, an accusation he has consitently dismissed as "baseless".
But chief prosecutor Remy Heitz said in a statement Thursday that there was "serious and confirmed evidence that justifies Gérard Depardieu to remain charged" in the case brought by the actress, Charlotte Arnould.
The case will now go back to the prosecuting magistrate who is to resume work on the case.
Arnould, who was present in the courtroom, declined to comment on the decision, but her lawyer, Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, reported that her client was "relieved".
Depardieu's lawyer, Hervé Temime, gave no comment on the ruling.
French actor Gérard Depardieu has been charged with rape and sexual assault. https://t.co/GPd5XnpjZZ
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Arnould filed her complaint against the actor in the summer of 2018 when she was 22, saying she had been raped twice by Depardieu in his Parisian mansion a few days earlier.
The actor was subsequently charged in December 2020 and ordered to be placed under judicial supervision, but was not jailed.
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Depardieu became a household name in France in the 1980s with roles in The Last Metro and Cyrano de Bergerac, before shooting to international stardom following the success of the 1990 romantic comedy Green Card.
In 2013, he sparked an outcry in France by leaving the country and taking Russian nationality in protest against a proposed tax hike on the rich.
A personal friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Depardieu came out against the war in Ukraine last week, saying he was "against this fratricidal war" and has called for negotiations.
