No show for Depardieu in drunk driving charges

(AP) French actor Gerard Depardieu's lawyer has said his client will not turn up at a Paris court to face charges of drunk driving on his scooter last November.

Eric de Caumont confirmed his client's no show to journalists outside Paris' Palais de Justice on Tuesday.

The 64-year-old star was picked up last November by police after he fell off his scooter in northwest Paris.

Depardieu has caused controversy in recent weeks for other reasons: last Saturday he received a Russian passport from President Vladimir Putin.

Depardieu has threatened to return his French passport in December after Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called him pathetic for deciding to move to tax-friendly Belgium.