Gerard Depardieu has been banned from driving for six months and fined 4,000 Euros for drink driving.

The ban follows an incident in November last year when the actor, 64, fell off his scooter and was taken to a police station drunk.

Depardieu’s lawyer, Eric de Caumont, said he planned to appeal Friday’s ruling. He said his client, who was not at the hearing, was in Moscow filming.

The Frenchman has publicly feuded with France’s Socialist government over high taxes and has accepted a Russian passport offered by Vladimir Putin.

Agence France-Presse reported that when police arrived at the scene and tested Depardieu, he showed a blood alcohol level of 1.8 grams per litre, well above the French limit for driving of 0.5.

In 1998 the actor was involved in a motorcycle crash when his blood-alcohol level was five times over the legal limit. He escaped with leg and face injuries.