Huge update in trial of Dominique Pelicot and 50 other men over the rape of his wife Gisele
There has been a huge update in the high-profile French rape case that has disturbed the world. Warning: Distressing content
WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT
A French man who admitted to repeatedly drugging his wife to render her unconscious before inviting dozens of strangers to rape her could face up to 20 years behind bars.
Prosecutors have demanded a maximum 20-year jail term for Dominique Pelicot, 71, in the disturbing case that has captured the world’s attention.
Gisele Pelicot, 72, endured almost 10 years of unimaginable horror but it wasn’t until November 2020 that she discovered so, when investigators first showed her images of the sexual abuse orchestrated and filmed by her husband.
She has since become a feminist icon. Gisele powerfully waived her right to anonymity to shift the “shame” from the victim to the accused.
She even bravely insisted that the hours of videos recorded by Mr Pelicot of the assaults – that he had kept on a hard drive labelled “abuse” – be shown to the public in court.
In calling for the sentence on Monday, local time, prosecutor Laure Chabaud said: “Twenty years is a lot because it is 20 years of a life.
“But it is both a lot and too little. Too little in view of the seriousness of the acts that were committed and repeated.”
Prosecutor Jean-Francois Mayet said the trial was “shaking up our society”.
What is at stake, he added, “is not a conviction or an acquittal” but “to fundamentally change the relations between men and women”.
Mr Pelicot’s lawyer Beatrice Zavarro said he was “devastated” by the sentencing request, while Gisele described it as “a very emotional moment”.
Mr Pelicot has admitted all charges against him. He laced his wife’s food and drink with anti-anxiety drugs from 2011 to 2020 at their home in the small French town of Mazan, then strangers he recruited online raped and abused her.
Police discovered the crimes in photos and videos after Mr Pelicot was caught filming up women’s skirts in public in a supermarket.
Investigators counted around 200 instances of rape, most of them by Mr Pelicot and over 90 by strangers.
They said there were 72 individuals suspected of abusing Gisele. 50 men were tracked down and are on trial alongside Mr Pelicot.
The 50 other men on trial
In addition to Dominique Pelicot, there are another 50 men on trial. Most of the defendants are charged with aggravated rape.
Prosecutors requested a 17-year prison sentence for one defendant, Jean-Pierre M., 63, who applied Mr Pelicot’s practices against his own wife to rape her a dozen times, sometimes in the presence of Mr Pelicot.
Prosecutors demanded 10-year prison sentences for 11 co-defendants; 11 years’ imprisonment for two co-defendants, and 12-years’ imprisonment for another four.
Prosecutors also demanded that one man be jailed for 13 years, while four years’ imprisonment was requested for Joseph C., 69, the only one of the defendants not to be prosecuted for rape or attempted aggravated rape.
Some defence lawyers have described the sentencing demands as “staggering” and “out of proportion”, claiming the public prosecutor’s office was under pressure from “public opinion”.
Many of the accused argued in court that they believed Mr Pelicot’s claim that they were participating in a libertine fantasy, in which his wife had consented to sexual contact and was only pretending to be asleep.
Among them, 33 have also claimed they were not in their right minds when they abused or raped Gisele, a defence not backed by any of the psychological reports compiled by court-appointed experts.
“In 2024, we can no longer say: ‘Since she said nothing, she agreed’,” said prosecutor Laure Chabaud.
“The absence of consent could not be ignored by the defendants.”
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