From now on, discussing the Mazan rape trial will require a clarification: “which ?” Since Monday, December 30, the name of this historic case no longer refers only to the three and a half months of stifling hearing before the Vaucluse criminal court: it also designates the second judicial act, after 17 co-accused of Dominique Pelicot appealed of their convictions.
This announcement opens the way to a second instance trial, which will take place at the end of 2025 before the Gard Assize Court, according to a press release from the Nîmes public prosecutor's office. Franceinfo takes stock of this second legal aspect in six questions.
1 Who are the defendants who appealed?
Of the 51 defendants convicted, 17 decided to appeal the verdict rendered by the Vaucluse criminal court on December 19, at the end of the legal deadline of ten days to make their decisions. However, they can still choose to withdraw their appeal, according to article 380-11 of the penal code. Dominique Pelicot, who received twenty years of criminal imprisonment for having drugged his ex-wife, Gisèle, in order to rape her and deliver her to dozens of strangers in Mazan (Vaucluse), does not appear in the list of men who contested the verdict.
This is not the case of Charly Arbo, sentenced to thirteen years in prison at first instance, nor of Joan Kawai and Karim Sebaoui, both sentenced to ten years in prison. Simone Mekenese, Cyril Beaubis and Husamettin Dogan, sentenced to nine years of criminal imprisonment by the Vaucluse criminal court, will all three also appear in Nîmes as defendants. Same thing for Redouan El Farihi, Mahdi Daoudi, Boris Moulin, Jean Tirano, Omar Douiri, Lionel Rodriguez, Cyrille Delville, Nicolas François and Ahmed Tbarik, who had initially received eight years in prison. Finally, Cyprien Culieras and Jean-Marc Leloup, sentenced to six years in prison at first instance, have also decided to appeal their conviction. Among these 17 accused, some, like Cyrille Delville, employed in the construction industry, are contesting their sentence, but not the guilty verdict, the latter's lawyer, Paul-Roger Gontard, announced to AFP.
2 Why didn't Dominique Pelicot appeal?
Dominique Pelicot's lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, explained to franceinfo that her client did not want “inflict a new ordeal and new confrontations” to his ex-wife, Gisèle Pelicot, who “is not and never has been his adversary”. She also estimated “preferable to play on the execution of the sentence and to worry about Dominique Pelicot, his state of health, his age” et “to try to obtain an accommodation from the courts” of the sentence, rather than “run the risk” to appeal, the facts being able to be reclassified and cause him to incur a heavier sanction. Dominique Pelicot therefore accepts the sentence of twenty years' imprisonment (the maximum provided for by law) accompanied by a two-thirds security measure (i.e. approximately fourteen years) which was imposed on him.
Contacted by franceinfo on Tuesday, the lawyer also emphasizes that on the “35 defendants who pleaded acquittal, only 17 appeal.” Which shows, according to her, a lack of consistency for the 18 of them who accepted their sentences, even though they contested their responsibility during the trial. “Everyone will appreciate it”ajoute Béatrice Zavarro.
3 How did Gisèle Pelicot react to this announcement?
Became a feminist icon for having refused to allow this trial to be held behind closed doors, so that the “shame changes sides” and no longer weighs on the shoulders of rape victims, Gisèle Pelicot spoke through her lawyer, Stéphane Babonneau. His client, “don't be afraid of this second trial” et “is already planning to appear there and ask, like the first time, that this trial be public”he said on franceinfo on Monday. Antoine Camus, another of his advisors, went in the same direction with the AFP. “She intends to be one and is preparing to face this new trial with the same determination and the same courage”he assured.
“We can consider that the fact that there are only 17 defendants who appealed means that two thirds accepted the decision”then commented Stéphane Babonneau, considering that “It’s something rather positive.” Gisèle Pelicot, 71 years old, “I'm certainly not going to stop living while waiting for this second trial”, insisted the lawyer. However, he clarified “that she would have preferred that there was no second trial in order to be able to plan definitively into the future” but she is not “surprise”. Finally, his lawyer also assured that he did not see “no reason” to this “that the decisions are different on appeal.
4 Why will the trial be held this time before popular jurors?
If Stéphane Babonneau was not able to provide certain details about the appeal trial (including its duration and the possibility that the videos would be projected), he recognized that this second trial “will certainly be very different in its development from the first”. The major change, beyond the number of accused, is due to the composition of the court: this time, the trial will take place before an assize court, composed of a popular jury, and not before a departmental criminal court ( CCD), composed of five professional magistrates, as in first instance. This means that the 17 defendants who appealed will be judged by three professional magistrates and nine popular jurors, drawn by lot.
This situation is explained by the generalization of criminal courts in January 2023. Since this reform, the CCDs are competent to judge crimes punishable by fifteen to twenty years of imprisonment (mainly rape, but also fatal blows, violent army or even acts of torture and barbarity). The assize courts are devoted to appeal trials and crimes punishable by more than twenty years of imprisonment, such as murder and assassinations.
5 What are the consequences of the prosecution's cross-appeal?
After the announcement of the appeal of the 17 accused on Monday, the prosecution had five days to file an incidental appeal (on a case by case basis), which is very generally the case. It was not necessary to wait for such a delay for him to announce his decision: that same evening, the public prosecutor of the Nîmes Court of Appeal declared in a press release that he had lodged an appeal. This means that the defendants' sentences may be increased. Without this appeal from the prosecution, their sentence could only have been reduced, confirmed or canceled. The objective is for the Court of Appeal to retry both the guilt and the sentence.
At first instance, the 51 defendants were sentenced to sentences ranging from three years of imprisonment (two of which were suspended) to twenty years of criminal imprisonment. The sentences handed down were all well below the public prosecutor's requirements, sometimes even by half. However, the prosecution decided not to file a general appeal (for all the accused): the convictions of Dominique Pelicot and the 33 co-defendants who did not decide to appeal are now final.
6 Will Dominique Pelicot be present during the debates?
The man who orchestrated a decade of rapes against his now ex-wife Gisèle will therefore not be in the dock for this second trial. However, his presence is not excluded: he may be summoned to appear as a witness. As the general public prosecutor's office is in charge of managing the appeal hearing, it is he who will make the decision.
By refusing to appeal, Dominique Pelicot decided that“it’s time to put an end to this judicially” with this affair, according to his lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro. However, the possibility of seeing him return to a courtroom in the future, and not only as a witness, is also possible. Indicted by the “cold cases” unit, he may soon have to respond to two other charges: an attempted rape in 1999 in Seine-et-Marne, and a rape followed by murder in 1991 in Paris, that of a young 23 year old real estate agent.
