US actor Kevin Spacey pleaded not guilty Thursday in London during a preliminary hearing in a British court and faces charges of sexual assault against three men.
Released after a first hearing almost a month ago, the star actor of the series house of cards He is prosecuted for four sexual assaults on three men between March 2005 and April 2013.
The 62-year-old comedian, who arrived dressed in a blue suit at the Old Bailey court, is also accused of forcing one of them to engage in penetrative sexual activity without his consent, a charge that differs from rape (which implies penetration with a penis) in English law.
He pleaded not guilty to all these charges.
It is said that some events were committed in the London neighborhood of Lambeth, where the Old Vic theater is located, of which he was artistic director between 2004 and 2015.
“Prove your innocence”
After the green light from the prosecution, the actor said he was “disappointed”, but announced his intention to appear before the British courts to “prove his innocence”.
“Mr. Spacey strongly denies any criminal act in this case,” his lawyer, Patrick Gibbs, had already declared on June 16, “he must answer to these charges to continue with his life.”
The charges against him were brought in the wake of the #MeToo movement and the Weinstein scandal, which bears the name of the American film producer the subject of numerous sexual harassment and assault allegations, revealed in the fall of 2017.
They had serious consequences on the career of the two-time Oscar winner (for American Beauty Y usual suspects). Evolving on the boards before dedicating himself to the cinema, he had been hired by Netflix from the successful series House of cards where he played the main character.
sexual advances
His big comeback to cinema – on film the uomo Che God Design (The man who draws God), however, had been announced last year.
In the United States, Kevin Spacey had been accused of indecent assault and sexual assault in the state of Massachusetts, on the east coast. He was accused of having put his hands, in July 2016, in the sex of an 18-year-old employee in a bar, after having forced him to drink.
But the charges were dropped in July 2019.
In late May, he appeared before a New York judge for a due process hearing in a civil lawsuit brought by actor Anthony Rapp, who accused him of making sexual advances on him as a teenager. Kevin Spacey had denied and the action was dismissed in criminal proceedings.
Source: BFM TV
