Vaucluse: 20 years required against Dominique Pelicot

What sentence does Dominique Pelicot deserve, this septuagenarian who for ten years drugged, raped and had his wife raped in the south-east of France? After eleven weeks of hearings, this trial with international impact is entering its final stretch and the prosecution this morning requested the maximum sentence: 20 years in prison.

“20 years is a lot because it’s 20 years of life, whatever your age, it’s not nothing. But it is both a lot and too little. Too little considering the seriousness of the acts which were committed and repeated,” insisted one of the two representatives of the prosecution, Laure Chabaud, before the Vaucluse criminal court. “His responsibility for the acts committed is therefore full and complete,” she said.

This sentence was expected since Dominique Pelicot, 71, has never hidden his responsibility. In mid-September, he called himself a “rapist” and said: “I am guilty of what I did. I ruined everything, I lost everything. I have to pay.”

“The search for his pleasure is found in a desire to submit to his wife, to humiliate or even degrade through his actions, his words, the person he cherishes most in the world,” accused the assistant prosecutor.

For ten years, from July 2011 to October 2020, the septuagenarian had hit his wife with anxiolytics and then raped her and delivered her, at their marital home in Mazan (Vaucluse) to dozens of men, now aged 26 at 74, whom he had recruited via the site Coco.fr, now banned. These 50 co-defendants are mainly being prosecuted for aggravated rape, acts for which they also face 20 years of criminal imprisonment.

Pulling the rug out from under arguments sometimes put forward by certain defense lawyers since the start of this trial on September 2, she also assured that it was “not conceivable that Gisèle Pelicot could have voluntarily ingested these anxiolytics “.

Eighteen of the 51 accused, including Dominique Pelicot, appear detained. Thirty-two others appear free, the last, on the run, being tried in absentia.

During his last speech, on November 19, Dominique Pelicot, unanimously described as the “conductor” of this decade of repeated rapes against his now ex-wife, Gisèle Pelicot, explained that “subduing a rebellious woman was his fantasy.

The verdict in this emblematic trial of sexual violence and chemical submission is expected no later than December 20.

The heart of this trial is that of “male domination over women”, launched one of the representatives of the prosecution, Jean-François Mayet, at the opening of the indictment before the criminal court of Vaucluse. He thus underlined that the issue of this trial “with unimaginably serious facts” was “not a conviction or an acquittal”. “This extraordinary trial leads to extraordinary requisitions,” he said.

He praised the “courage” and “dignity” of Gisèle Pelicot, victim of some 200 rapes, half of which were attributed to her ex-husband. “It’s a lot of emotion,” said Ms. Pelicot upon entering the courtroom.

Will the prosecution have a heavier hand towards the 35 accused who, at the opening of the trial, still firmly denied having participated in a “rape”, despite the damning videos filmed by Dominique Pelicot?

The demand of the feminist groups, who put up a banner on Sunday evening in front of the court, is very clear: “20 years for everyone”. “There needs to be nuance in the sentences. We can only understand that by following the trial,” Brigitte Jossien, a 74-year-old retiree who followed almost all of the hearings with her friend Bernadette Teyssonnière, 69, told AFP on Monday. years.

The two women do not believe that this trial will bring changes to society: “It is sex education in schools that will change things” and also “modules in medical school so that future doctors are more attentive to chemical submission,” judge Bernadette.

Covered almost worldwide, with 138 accredited media including 57 foreigners, this trial has an impact well beyond French borders. As the president of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies, Karol Cariola, testified again on Thursday, saluting “the courage and dignity” of Gisèle Pelicot, “an ordinary citizen who gave a lesson to the whole world”.

And this weekend, tens of thousands of people marched throughout France to demand a “surge” against violence against women, many referring to this extraordinary trial.

Subsequently, on Monday morning, the government announced the extension of the system allowing women victims of sexual violence to file a complaint in a hospital with an emergency or gynecological department.

In Avignon, the indictment is scheduled for three days, according to the official schedule. But according to information collected from the various parties, it could end late Wednesday morning.

After the Pelicot case, the prosecution should advance crescendo with first the less serious cases, those of Joseph C., 69 years old, and Hugues M., 39 years old, respectively accused of sexual assault and attempted rape. After the indictment, the defense will speak until December 13.