Final phase for mass rape trial that has horrified France

After 10 weeks, the mass rape trial that has shocked France is shifting on to the ultimate section of closing statements.

The case focuses on a previously married couple, Dominique and Gisèle Pelicot, pensioners who are actually of their early 70s.

Ms Pelicot’s authorized workforce will give their last statements on Tuesday, and the defence will then observe, forward of a verdict from a panel of 5 judges anticipated on 20 December.

Dominique Pelicot went on trial with 50 different males within the southern metropolis of Avignon in September.

Every chapter of this case has performed out within the full glare of publicity as a result of Ms Pelicot has waived her anonymity, making the entire trial open to the media and the general public.

In France, it has change into often called the Affaire Mazan, after the village near Avignon where the Pelicots lived.

In November 2020, Dominique Pelicot admitted drugging his then-wife for nearly a decade and recruiting dozens of males on-line to rape her of their residence when she was unconscious.

Police tracked down his co-accused from 1000’s of movies they discovered on Mr Pelicot’s laptop computer, though they have been unable to determine an extra 21 males. Investigators stated they’ve proof of round 200 rapes carried out between 2011 and 2020.

The majority of the defendants deny the fees of rape, arguing that they can’t be responsible as a result of they didn’t realise Ms Pelicot was unconscious and subsequently didn’t “know” they have been raping her.

That line of defence has sparked a nationwide dialogue on whether or not consent ought to be added to France’s legal definition of rape, at the moment outlined as “any act of sexual penetration committed against another person by violence, constraint, threat or surprise”.

The trial has additionally shone a lightweight on the problem of chemical submission – drug-induced sexual assault.

Dominique and Gisèle Pelicot, who have been each born in 1952, married in 1973 and had three youngsters. She labored as a supervisor in a big French firm, whereas he – a skilled electrician – began a number of in the end unsuccessful companies.

The Pelicots lived within the Paris area till 2013, after they retired to the picturesque southern village of Mazan. They had an enormous home with a swimming pool and infrequently used to entertain their prolonged household through the summer time holidays.

By all accounts, they have been a contented, close-knit couple. “We shared holidays, anniversaries, Christmases… All of that, for me, was happiness,” Ms Pelicot has stated.

Between 2011 and 2020, Ms Pelicot skilled unsettling signs she took to be indicators of Alzheimer’s or a mind tumour, and underwent in depth medical exams. The blackouts and reminiscence loss have been, in reality, side-effects of the medication her husband was giving her with out her information.

Ms Pelicot divorced her husband quickly after his crimes got here to gentle. She is simply utilizing her married identify for the needs of the trial.

Dominique Pelicot has been in jail since November 2020. He shall be sentenced subsequent month, alongside the opposite 50 defendants.

In September 2020, Dominique Pelicot was noticed filming below girls’s skirts by a safety guard in a grocery store in southern France.

Police detained him and confiscated his digital gadgets. They seen suspicious chats on his Skype account, then discovered 1000’s of movies of males having intercourse with a seemingly unconscious girl – Mr Pelicot’s spouse, Gisèle.

Investigators labored for weeks to collect sufficient proof to take Mr Pelicot into custody and finally arrested him in November 2020. He instantly admitted all the fees.

When Ms Pelicot was questioned by police and proven images and movies during which she appeared unconscious, it turned clear she had no information of what had occurred to her. She denied ever giving her consent to having intercourse with different males and realised her husband had drugged her for nearly a decade.

Fifty males – aged between 26 and 72 years outdated – are on trial alongside Mr Pelicot.

They hail from all walks of life: amongst them are a fireman, a carpenter, a nurse and a journalist. Many are married with youngsters. Most lived inside a 60km (37 miles) distance of the Pelicots’ residence.

A handful have admitted to raping Ms Pelicot.

The majority, nonetheless, reject the fees. Their defence hinges on the very fact they didn’t consider what they have been doing was rape, as a result of they weren’t conscious that she was unconscious and subsequently couldn’t give her consent.

Mr Pelicot has repeatedly denied this was the case, insisting that when he recruited males on the web he made it abundantly clear that his spouse could be asleep. “They all knew, they cannot say the contrary,” he has stated.

It was Gisèle Pelicot who determined to waive her anonymity – extremely uncommon in circumstances of rape. Her authorized workforce additionally insisted for the videos of the alleged rapes to be shown in court.

Ms Pelicot has stated that she hopes her choice will empower different survivors of sexual violence to talk out: “I want all women who have been raped to say: Madame Pelicot did it, I can too. I don’t want them to be ashamed any longer.”

She has forcefully hit again at “humiliating” strategies by the defence that she could have been drunk or pretending to be asleep through the alleged rapes, stating that she was by no means serious about partner-swapping or threesomes.

Ms Pelicot has additionally, nonetheless, spoken candidly in regards to the devastation that her husband’s abuse and lies have wreaked on her life. “People may see me and think: that woman is strong,” she stated. “The facade may be solid, but behind it lies a field of ruins.”

The horror of Dominique Pelicot’s actions, the sheer variety of males implicated within the case and Gisèle Pelicot’s choice to push for an open trial has meant that the proceedings have garnered important consideration.

Dozens of members of the general public attend court docket in Avignon every day to again Ms Pelicot, assembly her with applause and handing her flowers.

Murals have appeared throughout the nation depicting her distinctive look of a brief bob and spherical sun shades, and demonstrations have taken place throughout France in her help.

Above all, she is credited by many with sparking a dialog on rape tradition, misogyny and chemical submission.

Several feminist teams are actually pushing for the federal government to amend its definition of rape to incorporate consent, as is already the case in lots of European international locations.

“Society has already accepted the fact that the difference between sex and rape is consent,” stated Greens senator Mélanie Vogel, who proposed a consent-based rape legislation final yr. “Criminal law, however, has not.”