The Mazan rape trial highlights the difference between French law, which leaves room for interpretation on consent, and Belgian law, which is stricter since the 2022 reform.
At the Mazan rape trial, the testimonies of the co-defendants continue between tears, denial and attempts at justification. One element comes up regularly in the explanations of all these men accused of having raped Gisèle Pélicot, previously drugged by her husband Dominique Pélicot: a difficult past, a complicated childhood.
Jérôme V., called to the stand this Thursday, spoke of having been the victim of racketeering during his childhood, having suffered the disenchantment of an authoritarian father and experiencing a castrating mother.
Other co-defendants, for their part, spoke of sexual assaults that they themselves suffered during their youth. A defense choice that is debated, including among lawyers.
Consent, the central question of this trial
Especially since one of the defense attorneys said there was rape and rape. According to Highlightersit is legally false, there is rape or not, but according to the lawyer specializing in domestic violence, Maître Nathalie Tomasini, it is based on a small flaw in the legal definition of rape.
You should know that in France, forced sexual intercourse is not necessarily rape because if the perpetrator is not aware of forcing consent, the offense is not constituted. In this definition, there is no notion of consent from the victim. And so, the co-defendants jumped into the breach and claim that they were unaware that Gisèle Pélicot was unconscious and non-consenting.
In the absence of violence, coercion, threat or surprise and under current law, the offense of rape cannot be characterized; without the will to commit rape, there can therefore effectively be no rape, from the point of view of French law.
In Belgium, the question does not arise. Since the 2022 reform, the law defines rape through the prism of penetration and absence of consent, focusing on the behavior of the perpetrator. In any case, there is no consent when the act of a sexual nature was committed to the detriment of an unconscious or sleeping victim.
Little reminder
Sexual majority is set at 16 years. For 14/16 year olds, if the person with whom they had sexual relations is a maximum of 3 years older, the law considers that intercourse can be freely consensual. After this age gap, the relationship is systematically considered rape.
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You are in the newspaper Mazan rape trial consent justice
