In Mazan, hundreds of women victims of violence gathered on Saturday in support of Gisèle Pelicot.
Rarely, the Vaucluse criminal court finally agreed, at the victim’s request, to broadcast in the presence of the public the unbearable videos of her rapes.
The latter wants society to become aware of what it has suffered.
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The Mazan rape trial, an emblematic case of sexual violence and the ravages of chemical submission
Dignity, determination, righteousness. The procession, made up in particular of women victims of violence, chose the same attitude as Gisèle Pélicot, this Saturday October 5 in Mazan, walking with their faces uncovered, in silence, to show their support for this drugged woman and offered by her husband to around fifty strangers. Filmed rapes which she demanded be shown in public during Friday’s hearing, against the advice of the president of the Vaucluse criminal court.
A decision welcomed by everyone present. “The fact that she says: ‘I want this to be public’, that she watches the videos, it’s not just for herself that she works, she works for all other women”testifies a participant in the report above. “It’s very dangerous to do that. It’s exposing yourself in front of people who are not kind,” admires a retiree. While a young woman is convinced: “She breaks a glass ceiling, she really opens the floor. Women, at least the one I follow in particular, it really gave them a boost to get started, to testify”she said.
We see it very clearly, it’s a rag doll in the images, that’s what’s even more painful.
A young woman who witnessed the viewing of Gisèle Pelicot’s rape images
If her courage commands admiration, it is because she decided to confront her alleged rapists on their bleak, almost unbearable terrain. “I am knocked out from this hour, from this video viewing, it’s abject,” says a person from the audience as they leave. “We see it very clearly, it’s a rag doll in the images, that’s what’s even more painful”adds his neighbor. One of Gisèle Pélicot’s lawyers believes that this viewing is “necessary”. “And because it is necessary, she asked for this viewing to be public”he insists.
Since the first ovation, on September 17, not one entry, not one exit from Gisèle Pélicot’s court has been without applause. Sequences posted on social networks with thousands of cumulative views. And the comments attest to this: the victim, head held high, has become the symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France. “Gisèle Pélicot wanted this trial to be a political trial in the sense that society would feel concerned by what happened, that is to say by these 50 rapists, this husband who was behind an incredible attacker “, underlines Ernestine Ronai, head of the Observatory of Violence Against Women (OVF) in Seine-Saint-Denis.
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Gisèle Pélicot very quickly allowed the editorial staff to mention her full name and triggered solidarity demonstrations all over the country. In this fight which goes beyond the judicial framework, many see a revolution. A change can be definitive in the status and image of abused women. A first palpable sign: in the words of Gisèle Pélicot, “shame should not, but has already largely changed sides.”
