‘Rape is rape’: French mass rape survivor says ‘humiliated’ by claims of complicity
- A court in the southern town of Avignon is trying Dominique Pelicot, a 71-year-old retiree, for repeatedly raping and enlisting dozens of strangers to rape his heavily sedated wife in her own bed over a decade. Fifty other men, aged between 26 and 74, are also on trial for alleged involvement, in a case that has horrified France. The court proceedings, which runs until December, are open to the public at the request of Dominique Pelicot’s ex-wife and victim.
Avignon, France—The former wife of the French man accused of enlisting strangers to rape her while she was drugged said on Wednesday that she felt humiliated during his trial, accusing some defense lawyers of claiming she was complicit in the abuse.
“Since setting foot in this courtroom I have felt humiliated,” Gisele Pelicot said at the trial of her former husband and 50 other men for rape.
“I’m being called an alcoholic, and someone who gets intoxicated to the point of becoming Mr Pelicot’s accomplice,” she said.
Dominique Pelicot, 71, has admitted slipping his then wife Gisele sedatives to render her unconscious so that he and dozens of strangers could rape her for nearly a decade.
“I was in a comatose state and the videos that will be shown will prove this,” she said.
“I never, even for a single second, gave my consent to Mr Pelicot or those other men” who are also on trial, she said, accusing them of giving the impression that she was “the guilty party and those 50 men victims”.
Gisele Pelicot said she was reacting to remarks by Guillaume De Palma, one of the lawyers for the defense, who told the court that “there’s rape and there’s rape” in a possible attempt to back up some of the men’s claim that they assumed they were participating in a libertine couple’s sex game.
“No, there are no different types of rape,” she said. “Rape is rape.”
The lawyer subsequently apologized to her, saying he had wanted to distinguish the legal definition of rape from the “media” definition.
“I am sorry that these remarks hurt and shocked you,” he said.
‘I am a rapist’
On Wednesday, Pelicot begged her forgiveness.
“I am a rapist,” said a Frenchman accused of drugging his wife for years so that he and dozens of strangers could sexually assault her, his first testimony in a trial that has horrified France.
But he said he was no different from 50 other men he recruited online to take part in the sexual abuse, adding they all knew what they were signing up for.
“I am a rapist, like the others in this room,” he said, referring to his co-defendants.
“She did not deserve this,” he added.
Earlier on Tuesday, Pelicot used a walking stick to slowly enter the courtroom in the southern city of Avignon, where his now ex-wife Gisele was present for the testimony.
With her auburn bob and sunglasses, 71-year-old Gisele has become a feminist icon since she demanded that the trial be made open to the public to raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse.
Pelicot is accused of administering anti-anxiety drugs to his wife over a period of almost a decade, from 2011 to 2020, so that he and others could rape her while she was unconscious, mostly at their home in the small southern town of Mazan.
He has admitted to the charges, but Tuesday was the first time he spoke at any length since the trial began on September 2.
He recounted having a “difficult” childhood, saying his parents “assaulted each other”.
He briefly mentioned the “traumatic” experiences of being raped when he was nine years old and again on a construction site where he was an apprentice.
“I always carried these traumatizing events with me,” he said, his eyes welling up and his voice shaking.
“You’re not born this way. You become it.”
‘I must pay for it’
His ex-wife, who obtained a divorce from him last month, remained stoic as he spoke, then took the stand herself.
“Not for a single second did I doubt this man,” she said.
“I loved this man for 50 years. I would have sacrificed my own two hands for him.”
Her former husband asked her for forgiveness.
“I am guilty of what I have done. I beg my wife, my children, my grandchildren… to accept my apologies. I ask for forgiveness, even though it is unacceptable,” he said.
“I messed it all up… I must pay for it.”
He also presented his apologies to another woman, whose husband and he are accused of raping her using the same modus operandi.
“This is a confessional trial,” said Pelicot’s lawyer Beatrice Zavarro. “It will continue like this, you can be sure of it. At the end of this trial we will know everything about Dominique Pelicot,” she told reporters.
Pelicot said he “never touched” his two sons and daughter, although investigators found naked pictures of his daughter and intimate photos of his two daughters-in-law on his computer, taken without their knowledge.
He was only found out in 2020 after he was caught filming up women’s skirts in a supermarket.
Police discovered he had meticulously documented the abuse of his wife, stored in files on his computer.
“There was a certain pleasure to it,” he said of the filing, “but it was also a sort of guarantee.”
He pointed out that it had helped track down suspects, causing several co-defendants to look up or smile nervously.
Fireman, nurse, journalist
Investigators listed 72 men suspected of having taken part in abusing Gisele Pelicot other than her husband.
They succeeded in identifying 50, aged from 26 to 74, all of whom are on trial.
Pelicot’s testimony is expected to be decisive for all these co-defendants, four of whose cases are set to be heard in the coming days.
Some of the accused have admitted he told them he was drugging his then-wife, while others claim they believed they were participating in a swinger couple’s fantasy.
Seventeen are in custody, as is Pelicot himself, while 32 other defendants are attending as free men.
One co-defendant is being tried in absentia.
The suspects include a fireman, a male nurse, a prison guard and a journalist.
The case has prompted outrage across France, with thousands demonstrating in cities at the weekend to demand an end to rape.
Pelicot was excused from hearings for much of last week for health reasons and did not attend court on Monday.
But he returned to the dock on Tuesday after a green light from doctors, with his lawyer saying he would be allowed “regular rest.”
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