Actor Francis Renaud held in custody over alleged rape of ex-wife
The 59-year-old French actor and director was remanded in custody on Thursday following accusations of repeated rape. His ex-wife claims she suffered forced sexual relations between 2010 and 2026.
French actor held in custody over alleged rape
According to BFM TV, actor, director and screenwriter Francis Renaud was committed for trial and remanded in custody on Thursday 16 October for "rape, harassment and violence" against his ex-wife. The Évreux public prosecutor's office announced this decision following several days of police custody.
Renaud, 59, was placed in police custody on 12 October following a complaint filed at the end of September by his former partner, with whom he had been married from 2010 to 2022. The complainant accuses him of having "regularly forced her to have sexual relations with him when she did not want to", according to a statement from Évreux prosecutor Rémi Coutin.
She also claims to have been forced to "have sexual relations with other men in his presence", with Renaud participating in these relations in some cases, watching them or filming them. She estimates she was forced to engage in such relations with around ten different men, some of them on multiple occasions.
Since the divorce in 2022, the complainant says she continued to be harassed by the actor, who allegedly obtained from her "on an episodic basis" that she have sexual relations with him and other men. The most recent rape allegations date from the summer of 2026, according to the prosecutor.
Several people close to the complainant provided "elements of a nature to corroborate the physical and psychological violence" which she claims to have suffered. Part of the facts took place in Vernon, in the Eure département, where Renaud resides.
During his police custody, Renaud was questioned on five occasions. He acknowledged "an act of violence" towards his ex-wife and admitted "in so many words" to having harassed her since their separation. However, he contested having imposed sexual relations on her, claiming she had consented to those involving other men.
The prosecutor has brought charges for "rape by a spouse, gang rape, harassment by a spouse and violence resulting in total loss of working capacity of more than 8 days by a spouse". These offences expose Renaud to a maximum sentence of 20 years' imprisonment.
The actor is known for his roles in several films by Olivier Marchal, including "36 Quai des Orfèvres", "The Lyonnais" and "Bronx", as well as for television films such as "Zodiac" and "The Villemin Affair".
In 2024, Renaud himself filed a complaint for sexual harassment against director André Téchiné, as well as a complaint for sexual assault against casting director Gérard Moulevrier and a complaint against unknown persons for death threats. The Évreux public prosecutor's office had then called for "the utmost caution", considering that the accusations against Téchiné were "not capable of being qualified as sexual harassment" and that the facts alleged against Moulevrier were prescribed. The Paris public prosecutor's office had closed the matter three months later.
Source: BFM TV