The Frenchwoman Gisèle Pelicot is “not afraid” of a new trial, in the event of an appeal by one or more of those convicted of an extraordinary trial of serial rapes in France, and “she would face it”, one of his lawyers said on Friday.
“In any case, she’s not afraid of it. That is to say, if this were to happen, she has already told us that she would face it – if she has the health, obviously, since she is a lady who has today 72 years old. But in any case, it doesn’t scare her, that’s what she told us,” assured Me Babonneau on France Inter.
If the lawyer for two of the accused announced on Thursday, a few hours after the verdict, that they had appealed their convictions, that of Dominique Pelicot, the ex-husband of Gisèle Pelicot tried with 50 other men for having drugged her and raped, Me Béatrice Zavarro reaffirmed that the decision had not been taken by her client.
“I have to go meet him very soon at the penitentiary establishment so that we can discuss the issues of an upcoming procedure,” she said.
Asked about his client’s state of mind at the end of this emblematic trial of sexist and sexual violence against women, Me Babonneau declared that “she is very happy to return home. She is very relieved.”
“She doesn’t want to be seen as an icon. She doesn’t want to be seen as someone extraordinary. And in reality, he is someone who remains very simple and who has decided to try to live his life in the most normal way,” he added.
Ms. Pélicot has, however, become a true feminist icon since her decision to refuse closed doors at the opening of this historic trial.
In addition to her ex-husband, Dominique Pélicot, 72, French justice declared all 50 of her co-defendants guilty on Thursday, closing four months of trial.
Dominique Pélicot was on trial for having doused his wife with anxiolytics for a decade, to make her his sexual object and deliver her to dozens of men recruited on the internet.
After the court’s verdict on Thursday, Ms. Pelicot said she was thinking “of the unrecognized victims, whose stories often remain in the shadows.” “I want you to know that we share the same fight,” she said in a statement to the press.
“I now have confidence in our ability to collectively seize a future in which everyone, women and men, can live in harmony, with respect and mutual understanding,” she added.
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