At the Mazan rape trial, Dominique Pelicot apologizes to her family and salutes the “courage” of Gisèle Pelicot in her last speech before the verdict

The defendants have the floor. Monday, December 16, after three and a half months of hearings, the 51 men tried in the Mazan rape trial have one last opportunity to speak before the verdict, expected Thursday morning. It was Dominique Pelicot, the main accused, who spoke first, beginning “ by saluting the courage of [son] ex-femme »Gisèle Pelicot, whom he had drugged for a decade to rape her and deliver her to dozens of men recruited on the Internet.

“I ask her, and the rest of my family, to please accept my apologies”continued Dominique Pelicot, 72 years old. “ I regret what I did, cause pain [ma famille] for 4 years [la date de la révélation des faits]I ask them for forgiveness »continued the septuagenarian.

He also thanked the court which accepted that he could remain seated on a special chair due to his fragile state of health, which “which could have been interpreted as casualness” but who was not, he assured. He also had a word for his lawyer, M^e Béatrice Zavarro, who allowed him not to “let go of the ramp”. Otherwise, “it would have been proof of cowardice towards my people and made it easier for the accused to agree with them. So I held on ».

“I have been given titles, I rather intend to make myself forgotten”he warned, believing he had “an inner shame” : “I have a shell that I created for myself, otherwise we die in prison”continued the man who was described by several lawyers for the co-defendants as « the ogre of Mazan »and « loup » who would have tricked their clients into believing in the scenario of a libertine couple where the wife would pretend to be sleeping.

Dominique Pélicot explained that “the deprivation of no longer seeing one’s loved ones is worse than the deprivation of liberty” : “I can tell all my family that I love them. There you have the rest of my life in your hands.”he concluded towards the five professional magistrates of the court.

Twenty years of criminal imprisonment required against Dominique Pelicot

The other defendants, men aged 27 to 74, could speak on the stand if they wished in the order in which their cases were considered by the court. The conditions of these speeches had been strictly defined for the 32 accused appearing free or from their box for the 18 accused detained [le 51^e, en fuite, est jugé in absentia]. “This moment must allow each accused to possibly add a word. It is not a question of repeating what may have been argued by the lawyers in recent days. It is obvious that what has already been said would be repetitive and in this case I could cut the intervention”warned the president of the court, Roger Arata, on Thursday.

After giving the defendants the floor one last time, the Vaucluse criminal court retired mid-morning on Monday to deliberate. “We will therefore go to the deliberations chamber and will only come out when we have made our decision”announced the president of the court, Roger Arata, who specified that “the deliberations will take place at 9:30 a.m. Thursday”. A date “theoretical” which could be postponed to Thursday afternoon or Friday morning depending “for the duration of our deliberation”immediately added the magistrate.

“A message of hope to victims of sexual violence”

In its indictment, on November 25, 26 and 27, the prosecution requested the maximum possible sentence, i.e. 20 years of criminal imprisonment, against Dominique Pelicot, the “conductor” of this decade of rape on his wife. The other requisitions ranged from 10 to 18 years of imprisonment against the 49 accused prosecuted for aggravated rape, four years of prison being requested against the last one, only prosecuted for “touching” on Gisèle Pelicot.

Will the court follow these requisitions, more severe than the general average of convictions for rape in France, which was 11.1 years in 2022, according to the Ministry of Justice? Or, conversely, will she dare to follow the thirty requests for acquittal made by defense lawyers, according to whom their clients were “manipulated” by Dominique Pelicot, and “did not intend” to rape his ex-wife?

By its decision, the court will send “a message of hope to victims of sexual violence”had in any case hoped during the indictment Laure Chabaud, one of the two representatives of the public prosecutor at this trial which also became emblematic of the questions of chemical submission and consent. This last week will close an extraordinary procedure, which began on September 2 in Avignon, with powerful national and international repercussions.