For almost two hours, Gwenola Journot justified certain choices and described the investigations carried out. “Initially, we thought we would have 15 people to investigate,” she explained. Fifty-one men were ultimately tried.
She will have dedicated more than three years of work to this sprawling issue. Investigating judge Gwenola Journot was summoned, Friday, November 8, before the Vaucluse criminal court, during the trial of Dominique Pelicot and his 50 co-accused for having raped Gisèle Pelicot for a decade at her home in Mazan.
Seized in November 2020, after the arrest of the septuagenarian a month earlier in a supermarket in Carpentras, the magistrate issued her indictment order in June 2023: a document of nearly 370 pages, for 31 volumes of investigation. “On a case of this magnitude, we could have done ten years of investigation”explains Gwenola Journot, dressed in a black dress and a white vest.
“With the investigators, we wanted to be pragmatic and ensure that Mr. Pelicot could be tried within a reasonable time.”
Gwenola Journot, investigating judgebefore the Vaucluse criminal court
The civil party asks him for details, in particular what happened to the “sleeping and unidentified women”visible in certain photos by Dominique Pelicot. The magistrate specifies having reported “4 or 5 profiles of co-perpetrators likely to have reproduced the actions on their spouse”emphasizing that an investigation was opened for a woman who was indeed the victim of chemical submission by her husband. “That was a satisfaction”she emphasizes.
Antoine Camus, one of the civil party's lawyers, questions her: why did she not try to deepen the investigations into possible attacks suffered by Caroline Darian, the daughter of the Pelicot couple? Photos of her, naked and sleeping, were found on her father's hard drive. She believes she was drugged and raped by him. “It’s almost the only point where Dominique Pelicot didn’t have an explanation. He denied it outright,” notes the investigating judge. The main accused maintained his denials during the trial.
The lawyer continues and reports that “the benefit of watching videos has been hotly debated and criticized”on the grounds in particular that there would be “a form of free viewing, bordering on voyeurism”. Just this week, a defense lawyer protested against showing his client's images. These are only released when an accused does not admit to rape. Sometimes defense lawyers left the room in protest.
“For me, it’s the central element, the videos. I’ve watched them all,” retorts Gwenola Journot, specifying that they have almost all been shown “in interrogation then in confrontation”. The magistrate therefore had to go through hundreds of rape films for the purposes of the investigation, as did the police officers, who transcribed everything in their reports.
Stéphane Babonneau, Gisèle Pelicot's other lawyer, takes over and asks her to reconsider her methodology. She remembers that at the time of the opening of the judicial investigation, Dominique Pelicot “spoke of around thirty people coming to his home, half of whom only watched”. “At first, we thought we would have 15 people to investigate”she remembers. “Very quickly, the investigators estimated that there would be 60 or 70.”
“We quickly realized that we could not make all the arrests at the same time. We knew that we would very likely have lost evidence, particularly digital, but we were forced to make waves of arrests”relates Gwenola Journot. Ten waves in total, in groups of ten men, depending on the capacities of the Avignon police station.
“We realized that [le site] Coco was the central element. There were no real life connections between the accused.”
Gwenola Journot, investigating judgebefore the Vaucluse criminal court
During the investigation, the magistrate also noted that the version of the “libertine scenario”put forward by several accused and not very present during the first arrests, had become more and more mentioned as the waves of arrests and the media coverage of the defense of certain indicted persons.
In consultation with the judicial police, it decided to put an end to the investigations, even if around twenty perpetrators, some of whom “which we can barely see, very blurry”, could not be identified. For those for whom it was possible to extract usable photos, a sheet was distributed “in all gendarmes, all municipal and national police forces”which allowed the recognition of one of the accused.
The Advocate General asks him to recall under what conditions “human and material” Gwenola Journot investigated this case “in 31 months”. “You were in charge of an investigation firm and it was one of your firm’s files”he emphasizes. The magistrate explains that she first managed everything alone, then received help from colleagues, who absorbed the referrals. “The registry has been split”she adds, grateful with lip service “complicated conditions”.
Especially since between 2020 and 2023, it received other files, “lourds”. “We had a lot of settling of scores over drug trafficking in Cavaillon. So the cabinet was really very busy”pointed to the magistrate.
“Afterwards, the Pelicot file was a priority. So I made it a priority.”
Gwenola Journot, investigating judgebefore the Vaucluse criminal court
The attorney general asks her to specify how many other files she had to manage, in addition to this one. “Ninety files on average”replies Gwenola Journot. The final word goes to Olivier Lantelme, another defense lawyer: “I think that in the midst of the judicial shortage, you have done a colossal and quality job”he reassures her.
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