An extraordinary trial, the likes of which have never been seen in France. Around fifty men in the dock, including a husband who drugged his wife to offer her to rapists for years. Since Monday, September 2, 2024, all eyes have been on the Vaucluse departmental criminal court for the trial of the “Mazan rapes” case. Dominique Pélicot, 71, is being tried there for the chemical submission inflicted on his wife Gisèle for around ten years: using powerful anxiolytics, he would plunge his wife into a lethargic state before inviting men to rape her in her sleep. These acts were almost systematically filmed, which allowed investigators to find no fewer than fifty of these “clients” met on the Internet, aged 26 to 74, who are now being tried alongside him for “aggravated rape”. In total, investigators estimate that Gisèle Pélicot suffered 92 rapes between 2011 and 2020.
On Wednesday, September 4, 2024, the third day of this trial, several members of the Avignon judicial police came to testify at the bar about their investigative work. Jérémie Bosse Platière – former head of the brigade who has now become interdepartmental director of the Hautes-Alpes national police – claims that the intention of rape is indisputable, although thirty-five of the accused deny the facts of which they are accused. Indeed, as reported by several media outlets present at the hearing, the police officer remembers the discussions (…)
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