Depardieu has long denied any criminal wrongdoing and his lawyer has already announced plans to appeal the decision. The actor was not present in court on Tuesday and initially faced up to five years in prison.

A court in Paris on Tuesday found actor Gerard Depardieu guilty of sexually assaulting two women on a film set in 2021.

The 76-year-old actor was convicted in a Paris courtroom although he was not present at the time as he was working on a film set located in the Azores. He received a suspended jail term of 18 months, was ordered to compensate each victim around $1100 and was also placed on a sex offenders list.