Dominique Pelicot, the main accused in the Mazan rape trial, was “found guilty” Thursday for having drugged his ex-wife with anxiolytics for a decade before raping her and handing her over to dozens of strangers recruited on the internet. His sentence is not yet known.
“Mr. Pelicot, you are found guilty of aggravated rape against the person of Gisèle Pelicot”, declared the president of the criminal court of Vaucluse, Roger Arata, specifying that his sentence will be announced to him a little later in the morning devoted to the verdict of this trial which has become a symbol of the fight against violence against women.
After three and a half months of hearing and three days of deliberation, the five magistrates of the criminal court began to announce Thursday morning the fate that they decided to reserve for the 51 men aged 27 to 74, from all social backgrounds. , came to sexually assault Gisèle Pelicot, previously sedated by her then husband, Dominique, at their home in Mazan (Vaucluse).
Gisèle Pelicot’s three children, David, Caroline and Florian, arrived together at the court around 8:30 a.m., pushing through a crowd of spectators, activists and journalists. Gisèle arrived separately and smiling a little after 9 a.m. accompanied by her two lawyers.
Maximum sentence for Dominique Pelicot?
Unless there is a surprise, the main accused, Dominique Pelicot, 72, who admitted to having drugged his wife Gisèle with anxiolytics for a decade to rape her and hand her over to dozens of strangers he recruited on the internet, should receive the sentence. maximum of 20 years in prison requested by the public prosecutor.
>> Read also: Twenty years required against Dominique Pelicot at the Mazan rape trial
The great unknown lies in the sentences his co-defendants will receive, the court necessarily having to individualize its sanctions, and in the acquittal from which some may or may not benefit.
At the end of November, the public prosecutor had requested 10 to 18 years of imprisonment against 49 of them, tried for aggravated rape, and four years of prison against the last one, only prosecuted for “touching” Gisèle Pelicot.
These requisitions are more severe than the average sentence for rape in France, which was 11.1 years in 2022, according to the Ministry of Justice.
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.
cab with agencies
