NANTERRE (France), July 29 — Patrick Bruel, one of France’s best-known pop singers and actors, has been accused by another two women of sexual abuse, according to their lawyer Tuesday.

The allegations lodged this month – of sexual assault and rape – follow Bruel being charged in June with rape, attempted rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment in four cases, three for alleged acts in France and one in Belgium.

Further allegations have piled up against 67-year-old Bruel, some dating back to the 1990s.

At least six other complaints for rape and sexual assault have been made against him since he was charged.

The latest accusations, first reported by the news outlet Mediapart, were made by two women alleging Bruel forced himself on them.

One of the women alleged Bruel raped her in 1994, when she was 19 and working as a receptionist at a hotel in Toulouse, France, where the singer regularly stayed. She said he allegedly forced her to fellate him when she returned an item of clothing to his hotel room.

The other woman alleged that, while Bruel was appearing in a film being shot in Greece in 2005, he kissed her by surprise. She also accused him of sexual exhibitionism.

The lawyer for the two women, Iris Biehler, said that “the time has come for the women to speak, despite the time that has lapsed”.

Bruel’s lawyers responded by saying that the singer would reply to the accusations, “which he strongly denies”, if a court takes up such “alleged acts from 20 and 30 years ago”. — AFP