Gerard Depardieu To Appear In Court

Depardieu was detained in the French capital in November after he was found to be three times over the legal alcohol limit following a scooter accident.

No one was injured, and, since he pleaded guilty, Depardieu is expected to escape with a fine and penalty points on his driving license, according to an Associated Press report.

Drunk driving can invite a maximum fine of 4,500 euros ($5,880) and a sentence of up to two years in prison along with six penalty points, according to a BBC report.

The Paris court Monday refused Depardieu’s request to postpone the hearing for a second time. A failure to appear before the prosecutors and later before a judge at the scheduled time may lead to a criminal court hearing.

Depardieu flew to Russia "on a private visit" Saturday evening and was presented with a Russian passport.

Putin signed a decree Thursday granting Russian citizenship to Depardieu, who had threatened to quit France over French Socialist President Francois Hollande's plans for a 75 percent tax rate on all earnings over 1 million euros.

However, in an interview Monday -- the first since a row broke out in December over his decision to quit France -- Depardieu denied that he had left France for tax reasons.

"I have a Russian passport, but I remain French, and I will probably have dual Belgian nationality,” Depardieu said in the interview with French sports channel L’Equipe21.

“But if I'd wanted to escape the taxman, as the French press say, I would have done it a long time ago," he said.

When Depardieu first announced he would leave the country over the tax issue, French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault described the move as "pathetic," which apparently prompted the actor to threaten to give up his French citizenship.

Depardieu was given a warm welcome in Russia and offered a free apartment or land in Saransk, a small town east of Moscow.