New day of hearing before the Vaucluse Criminal Court, where the Mazan rape trial has been taking place since the beginning of September, in Avignon. On the stand, one of the accused refused to say the word « viol »who does not “does not represent him”this Thursday, October 17, reports theAgence France Presse (AFP).
In a striped sweater and slightly stooped at the bar, Cyprien, a 43-year-old truck driver who appears free, “do not dispute the facts” namely having engaged in penetration in November 2017 on Gisèle Pelicot, previously put to sleep with anxiolytics administered without her knowledge by her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot.
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Facts he says “regret” and for which he “would like to ask for forgiveness” to Gisèle Pelicot, present on the bench of the civil parties, impassive as since the start of this emblematic trial of chemical submission.
“I can’t say it’s rape”
“And about rape, do you recognize it? »the president of the court, Roger Arata, asked him for the first time. “I can’t answer you. He told me it was a scenario, that she would pretend to be asleep.”replies the accused, who according to psychiatrist Laurent Layet, heard in the morning, has a tendency to “to feel sorry for” about his fate.
Cyprien says he still feels “responsible for all his actions”clerk, he admits, “without having obtained the consent of Gisèle Pelicot”or that he “there are no involuntary rapes”.
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“I apologize for having participated in this horrible thing, I am guilty”he adds, pressed by Stéphane Babonneau, one of Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyers, to say that it was indeed rape. “I can’t say it’s rape”Cyprien replies.
“I regret, I can’t say anything else”
However, this is the definition of rape, intervenes the Advocate General, but “we can hear that you can’t pronounce the word”. “It doesn’t represent me… I regret, I can’t say anything else”persists the accused.
“You are assigned the status of rapist, it’s terrible”tries his lawyer, Magali Sabatier. Cyprien does not respond and cries. “Like me, I am a rapist, we must recognize things and take responsibility, we cannot say the opposite, sir”then says Dominique Pelicot.
A verdict expected in mid-December
Dominique Pelicot, 71, admitted to having drugged his ex-wife Gisèle from 2011 to 2020, without her knowledge, in order to rape her and have her raped by dozens of men recruited on the internet.
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The 50 men tried with him, most of them for aggravated rape, and who like him risk up to 20 years in prison, claim to have believed they were participating in the fantasy of a swinging couple or not to have realized the state of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconsciousness.
The verdict of the trial, with international repercussions, is expected in mid-December.
