On one side, there is the inaudible, the terrible story of the rapes suffered by Gisèle P. for ten years in the marital home in Mazan. On the other side, there are the inhabitants of this village in Vaucluse who live to the rhythm of the “Mazan rape trial”, which opened this Monday, September 2 before the departmental criminal court of Vaucluse, and the press.
The trial is making headlines, and some are more annoying than others. Sometimes Mazan becomes the “village of rapists.” A nickname that bothers some residents.
“We’re not too proud. We’re not rapists. There aren’t only rapists in Mazan,” Marie, a resident of the village, told BFMTV. Her friend Clara, with whom she is sitting in the café, adds: “and then, with all the rapists there have been, it doesn’t just concern Mazan. There have been some all over France in this story too.” And she adds: “it mustn’t kill the village of Mazan.”
“Perhaps our neighbor, our friend”
According to Louis Bonnet, the village mayor, a certain suspicion has set in among the inhabitants since the trial began. “What is most worrying for us, at the village level, is to know that there are ten or twenty who have not been identified,” he explains.
“That means that we may pass these people in the street without knowing it. They may be our neighbor, our friend, the craftsman who comes to our house. They may be the shopkeeper we pass every day,” the mayor continued.
In this case, of the 83 men identified, 53 were identified and taken into custody during the various waves of arrests. Since Monday, 51 accused have been tried before the Vaucluse departmental criminal court, including Gisèle P’s husband.
In this atmosphere, some shopkeepers are a little worried, like Evan Tuvignon, owner of a rotisserie in the village.
“Making yourself known differently”
“It’s not necessarily good publicity on a national scale. It’s up to us, as traders, to restore our image, to be irreproachable when we welcome tourists,” he thinks. “But we would certainly have liked to make ourselves known differently.”
This Thursday, September 5, Gisèle P. will speak before the Vaucluse departmental criminal court. This is the first time she has spoken in this trial, which she wanted to be public.
- BFMTV.com
