Dominique Pelicot, 71, the main defendant in the mass sexual abuse trial, pleaded guilty in a court in Avignon, France. The man gave his wife drugs and encouraged others to rape her. Pelicot pleaded guilty.
I am a rapist like the ones in this room. They knew everything – said Pelicot, speaking of the co-defendants. There are 50 of them, today they are between 26 and 74 years old, although one of them has not yet been arrested. Almost everyone will face rape charges and could face up to 20 years in prison. The verdict will likely be announced later this year.
The indictment against Pelicot states that since 2011 for 10 years he gave psychotropic drugs to his wife and, while she was unconscious, he raped her and offered sex with her to other men.
Pelicot asked his wife, children and grandchildren for forgiveness. He referred to the fact that he himself was raped as a child and as a teenager – forced to participate in a gang rape.
The trial is seen in France as symbolic when it comes to issues of rape and criminal use of chemical substances. French law does not include a lack of consent criterion in the definition of the crime of rape, and there have been growing calls to change these laws. They appear questions about the ability of doctors to report crimes, since the victim – Giselle Pelicot – came to them with gynecological and neurological problems.
This case is also an alarming sign that rape perpetrators may be hiding in the area. Men who came to Pelicot’s home – some on multiple occasions – She knew Giselle Pelicot from the neighborhood and encountered them regularly, not realizing she was their victim.
Giselle Pelicot, who changed her name after 2020, plays a key role in the trial that has rocked France. She demanded public hearings, even though she had to reveal intimate details of her own life while testifying.and the evidence during the trial is video recordings made by her husband.
I am concerned about this trial, the harm has already been done to me. That is why I did not want to agree to a closed trial in the first place. I do this on behalf of all those women who may never know they were victims. – she said at the beginning of the trial.
On Saturday, demonstrations called by feminist organizations took place in 30 cities in France; their participants showed support for Giselle Pelicot.
