French Actor Gérard Depardieu Found Guilty of Sexual Assault, Handed 18-Month Suspended Prison Sentence: Reports

French actor Gérard Depardieu has been handed an 18-month suspended prison sentence after being found guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021, according to reports.

On Tuesday, May 13, a judge made the decision after the case came before a court in Paris, Reuters and the Associated Press reported.

Per the AP, Depardieu, 76, will appeal the court’s decision and has denied any wrongdoing, citing his lawyer. The actor didn’t attend Tuesday’s hearing.

Depardieu was also fined around $32,350 (29,040 euros) and the court has requested that he be registered in the national sex offender database, the AP noted.

As previously reported by PEOPLE, Depardieu has been on trial amid accusations that he groped a 54-year-old set dresser and a 34-year-old assistant director during the making of the 2022 film, Les Volets Verts (The Green Shutters).

The set decorator had told the court of the alleged assault, “He touched everything, including my breasts,” Reuters reported.

“I was terrified, he was laughing,” she added, according to the outlet.

The assistant, who is the other plaintiff, alleged Depardieu had groped her buttocks and her breasts during three separate incidents on set, per the AP.

Depardieu has faced more than 20 other allegations of sexual assault over the years, The Hollywood Reporter previously stated, however, this marked the first time he was on trial.

Lawyer Carine Durrieu-Diebolt, representing the set dresser, said of the court’s decision on Tuesday, “It is the victory of two women, but it is the victory of all the women beyond this trial,” per the AP.

“Today we hope to see the end of impunity for an artist in the world of cinema. I think that with this decision we can no longer say that he is not a sexual abuser. And today, as the Cannes Film Festival opens, I’d like the film world to spare a thought for Gérard Depardieu’s victims,” the lawyer added, according to the news agency.

The 54-year-old set dresser previously alleged in court that Depardieu had trapped her between his legs while she was trying to move past him in a narrow hallway, testifying that he began “palpitating” her behind and then grabbing her chest, the AP reported.

“I tried to free myself, I tried to take his hands away, I couldn’t do it,” the woman testified, according to the Times. “He terrified me, he laughed, he looked like a madman.”

Depardieu’s attorney, Jérémie Assous, previously told journalists outside the courtroom amid the four-day trial in March, “We will be able to show in an impartial, objective and incontestable manner that all of the accusations are lies,” adding, “The truth will be obvious and the truth is on our side,” the AP stated.

The Paris prosecutor’s office and Depardieu’s lawyer didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for additional information. PEOPLE has also attempted to reach out to a representative for the actor and the set dresser’s lawyer, Carine Durrieu-Diebolt.