French justice on Thursday sentenced to the maximum sentence a man who drugged his wife for years before raping her and delivering her to strangers, but handed down lower sentences than those requested for his 50 co-defendants, a decision that Gisèle Pelicot said “respect”.
In a brief intervention after the verdict, the ex-wife of Dominique Pelicot, 72, who has become a true feminist icon since her decision to refuse the closed session at the opening of this extraordinary trial, on September 2, in Avignon, in the south of France, also said he was thinking of “the unrecognized victims” of sexual violence, while ensuring he had “confidence now” in “a future in which everyone, woman and man, can live in harmony”.
Unsurprisingly, her now ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, also 72 years old, was sentenced to the maximum possible sentence for aggravated rape, i.e. 20 years of criminal imprisonment, as requested by the prosecution in its indictment at the end of November.
He was on trial for having doused Gisèle Pelicot with anxiolytics for a decade, making her his sexual object and delivering her to dozens of men recruited on the Internet.
“Disappointed” children
His 50 co-defendants, men aged 27 to 74, were all also declared guilty, with President Roger Arata listing the sentences imposed one by one, without any comment or motivation, during a final day of hearing which lasted barely more than an hour, abruptly concluding nearly four months of debate.
The lowest sentence, three years in prison, two of which were suspended, was given to Joseph C., 69, accused of “touching” Gisèle Pelicot. The heaviest, 15 years of criminal imprisonment, targeted Romain V., 63, who came to Mazan six times to rape Mme Pelicot. In its indictment at the end of November, the prosecution requested 18 years of imprisonment against him.
The public prosecutor had requested sentences of 10 to 18 years’ imprisonment against the 49 co-defendants tried for aggravated rape or attempted rape.
In total the prosecution had requested 652 years in prison for the 51 defendants, who were ultimately sentenced to 428 years behind bars.
A verdict deemed too lenient by the children of the Pelicot couple, David, Caroline and Florian, “disappointed” with these “low” sentences handed down by the five professional magistrates of the court, a member of the family told AFP, who requested anonymity.
Gisèle Pelicot’s fight “obligates us all and must be continued,” commented Prime Minister François Bayrou. “Thank you Gisèle”, reacted on X the heads of the Spanish and German governments Pedro Sanchez and Olaf Scholz.
If the Women’s Foundation considered that by recognizing all the accused guilty, “justice has vindicated Gisèle Pelicot” and that therefore “shame can change sides”, it said “to share the incomprehension and disappointment in the face of to some of the sentences handed down, despite the witnesses and the evidence”, these thousands of photos and videos of the rapes inflicted on his wife that Dominique Pelicot had meticulously stored and captioned.
“The fight against impunity is far from over,” she commented in a press release.
“The message sent is: ‘rape is not that serious, it’s a sub-crime'”, was also indignant Céline Piques, spokesperson for the Osez le feminisme association.
In the crowd gathered in front of the court, anger was also strong. “Patriarchy justice”, “let’s stop asking for justice, let’s do justice”, some women shouted.
A sign of the extreme tension reigning outside the court, one of the six accused who walked away free was jostled as he walked away in the company of his lawyer.
Dominique Pelicot “dazed”
According to his lawyer, Me Béatrice Zavarro, Dominique Pelicot was “somewhat dazed” by the two-thirds security period pronounced against him, not excluding an appeal in order to be retried, this time before “a popular jury”, as c This is the rule after a first instance before a criminal court, composed of professional magistrates.
At the end of Thursday morning, the number of defendants who will appeal was not yet known, they having ten days to make this decision. It was also unclear whether the prosecution would appeal.
This decision, in an Avignon courthouse under heavy police protection, was closely scrutinized, in France and abroad, as this trial has caused a shock wave since its opening, becoming emblematic of the questions surrounding violence. sexist and sexual and more broadly male-female relationships.
In her indictment, Laure Chabaud, one of the two representatives of the public prosecutor’s office, hoped that the court’s decision would overcome the fate of these defendants and send “a message of hope to victims of sexual violence”.
Conversely, the defense lawyers made around thirty requests for acquittal for their clients who, according to them, were “manipulated” by the “monster”, the “wolf” or even the “ogre” Dominique Pelicot. So without success.
The tension was palpable in the courtroom, where a large police force had been deployed. Found guilty, several of the 32 accused who appeared free should in fact sleep Thursday evening behind bars.
Ready for this eventuality, most of them had arrived at the hearing with a bag containing some clothes. In tears, one of them hugged his partner for a long time before entering the room.
Unusual in terms of its duration, the number of accused, but above all the atrocity of the alleged acts, this trial has already made history.
Closing this last chapter, Gisèle Pelicot left the courthouse to the “bravo” and “thank you”, echoing a huge banner “Thank you Gisèle” hung on the ramparts of the old town of Avignon, opposite the court.
