Director Nicolas Bedos was released Thursday, June 22 in the evening from police custody and will be tried in early 2024 for “sexual assault in a state of manifest intoxication”, announced the Paris prosecutor’s office to Le Monde. An offense for which he faces five years in prison and a fine of 75,000 euros.
According to the same source, a complaint was filed on June 12, 2023 against the 44-year-old filmmaker for sexual touching in a nightclub, facts which took place on the night of June 1 to 2, 2023. The latter replied to his summons to the central Paris police station, where he was taken into custody on June 21. After extension of the police custody for the necessities of the investigation, he was given a summons to be tried. According to a source familiar with the matter at Agence France-Presse (AFP), the trial will be held in February.
“He doesn’t want to question the complainant’s word”
Mr. Bedos is accused by a 25-year-old woman of having touched her in the private parts, over her pants. “Nicolas Bedos was able to explain himself to the investigators,” his lawyer Julia Minkowski told AFP. “He does not want to question the word of the complainant who describes an inappropriate gesture of a few seconds over her jeans,” she continued. “But such a gesture, which he does not remember, which would have occurred on the dance floor of a nightclub, could only have been accidental under the influence of intoxication”, has she added.
The charges against Mr. Bedos took place in an establishment in the Les Halles district. He “stretched out his hand (…) at my panties while I was in jeans,” said the young woman in her story to investigators consulted by AFP.
Mr. Bedos would have first walked towards her, without her recognizing him. “I saw his gaze on me then frankly,” she said. Then “without speaking”, Mr. Bedos touched his private parts over his pants, according to the complainant, who explains “having pushed him away” and then recognized him by saying, “Go get treatment! “. A security guard would then have led Mr. Bedos out of the establishment. Asked by investigators about the nature of the gesture, the complainant explained that there had been “a friction”. Mr. Bedos’ lawyer assured that the director had “apologized” to him.
Nicolas Bedos has many hats in the world of cinema: playwright, columnist, screenwriter and actor. Son of comedian Guy Bedos, he has made a name for himself by distinguishing himself in many fields, since his debut at the theater in 2004, with several plays, including Sortie de scène.
