Among the eight men presented this week to the Vaucluse criminal court is Romain V., an HIV-positive single man who went to the Pelicots' house six times, without ever wearing a condom.
After a week of interruption, the Mazan rape trial resumed Monday in Avignon, with the start of the personality examination of eight others of the fifty men accused of having sexually assaulted Gisèle Pelicot, at the invitation from her ex-husband, who drugged her. Absent on Monday, Gisèle Pelicot should find her place on the civil parties' bench on Tuesday. Dominique Pelicot, 71, on the other hand, found the accused's box, in the “same good state of mind” that before the break, that of “participate in debates when given the floor”his lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, told AFP.
Monday morning, personality investigators began to discuss the life story and character of the eight accused of the week, again with experiences of sexual violence among some.
Ludovick B., a 41-year-old unemployed temporary worker, suspected of having raped Gisèle Pelicot in 2019, with the complicity of her ex-husband, at the home of their own daughter, Caroline Darian, in the Paris region, is said to have revealed late to his relatives having been victims of rape as a teenager committed by the father of a friend, a fire commander.
Cédric G., a 50-year-old computer technician, described by his former partners as a man with “strong needs” in matters of sexuality, was allegedly raped by an uncle around 12 or 14 years old. This accused is suspected of having planned to reproduce on his partner the same process of chemical submission used by Dominique Pelicot.
An accused judged in absentia
The other defendants this week are Cendric V., a 42-year-old restaurant manager; Saifeddine G., 36-year-old truck driver; Paul G., 31-year-old worker, aged 22 at the time of the events; Omar D., a 36-year-old maintenance worker or Romain V., a 63-year-old HIV-positive single man who went to Mazan six times, without ever wearing a condom. Hassan O., 30 years old, still subject to an international arrest warrant, will be tried in absentia. After the hearing of the psychological experts on Tuesday, the facts with which they are accused will be discussed from Wednesday.
Of the 51 accused in this extraordinary trial, emblematic of the questions of chemical submission and consent, 36 have paraded in the preceding weeks, since September 2, before the Vaucluse criminal court, whose verdict is expected on December 20. Most are being prosecuted for aggravated rape and risk up to 20 years in prison. But very few accept these facts, persisting in having been invited or even lured, by Dominique Pelicot, to participate in the scenario of a libertine couple.
“It is very tiring for Gisèle Pelicot to hear almost systematically the same explanations from the accused, (…) to hear that she was the victim of rape “by accident”, of rape “by error of judgment”, rape “reluctantly”Me Antoine Camus, one of his lawyers, told AFP, before the hearings resumed. “It’s a marathon, (…) but she remains combative and determined to go to the end, because she is carried by this outpouring of support which goes beyond the borders of France”he assured.
