“He talks nonsense”, a defense lawyer does not mince his words in the face of Dominique Pélicot

This Tuesday, December 3, 2024 marks the 55th day of hearing at the Mazan trial. After the requisitions where the attorneys general demanded 584 years in prison for the 51 accused, it is now the turn of the defense lawyers to plead. Recently, a lawyer even requested the acquittal of an accused, a first in the pleadings.

Before the Vaucluse departmental criminal court, the lawyer Me Guillaume de Palma began his pleading by indicating that he will plead a general point without beginning his pleadings for the benefit of his 6 clients, as indicated on X by journalist Marion Dubreuil.

Mazan trial: a defense lawyer pushes Dominique Pélicot

For the defense lawyer, his strategy seems to discredit Dominique Pélicot in order to justify that the accused were under his influence in the same way as his ex-wife Gisèle Pélicot. “Your postulate is that Dominique Pélicot always tells the truth. How many do they need to tell you, 6, 35, 50 maybe? You type and continue to type, such judicial blindness can only distort your requisitions, it is the land of evil that you are treading.” the lawyer said. Before continuing: “This file is first and foremost that of mental manipulation (…) I was surprised that Mr. Pélicot never got up, chose his interlocutors and distributed good and bad points as if from the top of his seat he had some power, not over you but over ours. A maestro-like attitude from a godfather leader.”

Me Guillaume de Palma returns to the confrontation by indicating that Dominique Pélicot had “a place of choice” and that it is the “summit of the mechanism of control, the woman reduced to the state of an object”. He continues his argument by indicating that Dominique Pélicot was described as a manipulator using his wife as bait by Doctor Bensussan. “He needs to have full powers over the object, the accused were used and entered into Mr. Pélicot’s fantasy according to the psychologist expert,” adds the lawyer. “These men are placed here and there used as objects, like Gisèle Pélicot. We must also listen to what Joel Pélicot says, he invalidates the sexual assaults of which Dominique Pélicot is said to have been a victim. His children, his son calls him the devil.”

A strategic plea

After having discredited Dominique Pélicot, Me Guillaume de Palma therefore comes to explain that the accused were manipulated by the latter. “No, they didn’t go there knowingly. Mr. Pélicot talks nonsense and about this nonsense we always continue to serve the same thing they knew they were aware (…) It is a question in this file for our clients of having invented this libertine game. It’s funny because it was Dominique Pélicot who invented it.”

But the lawyer doesn't stop there. Indeed, he leaves doubt by raising the possibility that certain accused could also have been drugged. “There are also products that disinhibit” he says. Before continuing: “It is not a question of necessarily saying they were drugged. But when the question is asked to Dominique Pélicot whether he was able to offer café pastis a glass of water to the accused, the answer is no. Regardless of chemical submission many say they were offered a drink.”

Passionate about women's news, Agathe has been deciphering the latest trends for aufeminin since 2022. Her favorite areas? Psychology, nutrition and well-being advice, without forgetting the tips…