The appeal court is set to announce its decision on November 26 regarding whether to send the French actor Gérard Depardieu to criminal court for alleged rapes. The hearing for this appeal took place on September 17 in a closed session, without the presence of the 77-year-old actor, and lasted three hours. During the hearing, the general prosecutor asked the court to confirm the referral of Depardieu to the departmental criminal court. The actor has been challenging the rape allegations since he was placed under investigation in 2020. He is accused of raping 20-year-old actress Charlotte Arnould on August 7 and 13, 2018, at his home in Paris. His legal team is seeking to question the credibility of the complainant and her account of the events. According to Charlotte Arnould, she contacted Depardieu, who was a friend of her parents, to seek professional advice. She visited him on August 7, 2018, for this purpose. She claims that after an initial conversation, the situation escalated quickly—within 16 minutes of her arrival—and that Depardieu raped her, leaving her in a state of shock. On August 13, she returned to his home, she said, to seek an explanation. She claims that she was raped again shortly after arriving—approximately one and a half minutes after entering the house. The initial complaint was filed in late 2018, but it was dismissed by the prosecutor's office. However, Charlotte Arnould later filed a new complaint, this time as a civil party, which led to Depardieu being placed under investigation in February 2021. He had previously appealed the investigation, but in March 2022, the appeal court confirmed that the evidence against him was serious and consistent enough to warrant the investigation. If the appeal court confirms the referral to the departmental criminal court, Depardieu could face trial in 2027. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 20 years in prison. This would be in addition to a suspended 18-month prison sentence he received in 2025 for sexual assaults in the so-called "Volets verts" case. Depardieu will also be retried in an appeal court in November 2026, at the same location where he may appear for the rape charges in 2027.