between four and twenty years required against the 51 accused

Begun Monday morning, the public prosecutor's indictment against the 51 accused in the Mazan rape trial concluded before the Vaucluse criminal court on Wednesday, November 27. The required sentences range from four to twenty years in prison. The prosecution explained that “ordinary rape does not exist”believing that the verdict given by the court at the end of December will “a message of hope to victims of sexual violence”.

The maximum sentence, twenty years, was requested against Dominique Pelicot, described as the “conductor” of the decade of rapes against his wife, whom he drugged with anxiolytics to deliver to strangers recruited on the internet. The minimum sentence was requested against Joseph C., 69, only prosecuted for sexual assault on Gisèle Pelicot.

All other required sentences range between ten and eighteen years of criminal imprisonment. In addition to Joseph C. and Dominique Pelicot, the public prosecutor requested 10 years in prison for eleven accused, 11 years for two, 12 years for thirteen, 13 years for six, 14 years for six, 15 years for three, 16 years for four , 17 years for three and 18 years for the last, one of the four men to have come six times to the Pelicot marital home to rape Gisèle Pelicot.

These requisitions are significantly more severe than the general average of convictions for rape in France, which was 11.1 years in 2022, according to the Ministry of Justice. Against the 45 co-defendants prosecuted for aggravated rape or attempted rape whose cases were discussed on Monday and Tuesday, the prosecution thus requested sentences of 12 to 18 years of criminal imprisonment for thirty-six of them.

At the start of their indictment on Monday, the two representatives of the public prosecutor warned that “the absence of consent (of Gisèle Pelicot) could not be ignored by the accused”. On “can no longer say in 2024 ‘since she didn’t say anything, she agreed’, it’s from another age”added Laure Chabaud, thus refuting any possibility of a “implied consent” from Ms. Pelicot, or consent “by proxy” which would have been given by her husband.

Opening the prosecution's indictment, Jean-François Mayet, deputy prosecutor general, estimated that beyond the sentences, “the issue” of this trial was “fundamentally change the relationships between men and women”.

Defense pleadings begin, some lawyers will attempt acquittal

Once the requisitions are completed, the two attorneys general, Jean-François Mayet and Laure Chabaud, will hand over to the defense lawyers, who will begin their pleadings. Me Béatrice Zavarro will begin, on behalf of Dominique Pelicot. The only one who fully admitted the facts from the beginning. After her, the pleadings of the lawyers of the 50 co-defendants will begin Thursday morning.

In addition to the arguments concerning “control” and “manipulation” of which their clients would have been victims at the hands of Dominique Pelicot – who would have made them believe in the sexual scenario of a libertine couple – several lawyers should even try to plead for acquittal. Thus, for at least thirty-three accused, they have already explained that they were going to plead an alteration of discernment.

“Medical nonsense and legal nonsense”Laure Chabaud retorted in advance on Monday, on behalf of the prosecution, stressing that no expert report goes in this direction.

After the defense, there will then be one week left for the five professional magistrates of the Vaucluse criminal court to deliberate and then give their verdict, expected on December 20 at the latest.