the lesson of justice by Gisèle Pelicot

LJustice is often represented in the guise of the blindfolded goddess Themis, a symbol of impartiality. Before the Vaucluse criminal court, in Avignon, for almost three months, it is a completely different woman, with a straight look, fierce determination and measured words, who has dominated the trial of around fifty men, her ex-husband in the front row, having treated her like a sex object. “Shame must change sides”says a slogan of feminist struggles against rape. It is an understatement to say that, during the Mazan rape trial, the indictment of which ended on Wednesday, November 27, it became a reality thanks to the courage of Gisèle Pelicot.

In 1978, during the trial of the perpetrators of the rape of two campers attacked in the middle of the night in a cove near Marseille, it was they, the victims, who had been treated as accused and, with their lawyer, Gisèle Halimi, ridiculed by men leaving the hearings. Forty-six years later, Gisèle Pelicot entered the Avignon courthouse every day to applause and left with a guard of honor.

This contrast, if it reflects a change in society's outlook, should not create an illusion: almost none of the accused in the Avignon trial recognized the reality of the rapes, although attested by videos, taking refuge behind an alleged “lack of intention” or an “error”.

But, while 94% of rape cases are dismissed and facing legal proceedings remains a terrible ordeal for the complainants, often forced to remain in the shadows, the way in which Gisèle Pelicot placed herself, from her in his own right, at the center of this trial and confronted his attackers, can only make history.

Certainly, the extraordinary scenario of the rapes filmed by the husband of the sleeping victim took the debates away from the terrible “word against word”. But the victim's decision to confront the public broadcast of these images by refusing to go behind closed doors changed everything by exposing ad nauseam to the entire society, the parade of these seemingly ordinary men, of all ages and ages. all origins, their behavior in front of a sedated woman, their irresponsibility, sometimes their bestiality and their cowardice.

A spectacular and exemplary turnaround

More than the judicial institution itself, it is M^me Pelicot who, by maintaining his refusal to go in camera – which the president of the court had initially pronounced –, by refraining from speaking outside the court, and by attending the hearings with dignity, including the pleadings of the defense, has, in a way, imposed its rules on the magistrates as well as on the accused and their lawyers. A takeover recognized in his own way by the representative of the public prosecutor, originally in favor of the closed session, who welcomed the “admirable burst of resilience” by Gisèle Pelicot.

Exemplary, this spectacular turnaround which saw a rape victim place herself at the center of the trial of her attackers during hearings followed by the media around the world has already sparked vast and useful debates on “rape culture” and question of consent. “By your verdict, you will mean (…) that there is no inevitability for women and no inevitability for men to act. And you will guide us in the education of our sons”, concluded, Wednesday, one of the advocates general at the address of the court.

If these essential messages end up permeating relationships between men and women and inspiring public policies, Gisèle Pelicot will have played her part.