The Vaucluse criminal court was less severe than the attorneys general’s requisitions by sentencing the 50 men accused of rape or sexual assault on Gisèle Pelicot to sentences ranging from 3 to 15 years.
The majority of these men had denied their intention of having wanted to rape or attack Gisèle Pelicot when they came one, two, even six times to the couple’s home in Mazan (Vaucluse). The departmental criminal court decided otherwise, sentencing Dominique Pelicot’s 50 co-defendants to sentences ranging from 3 to 15 years in prison.
Dominique Pelicot, described as the “conductor” of the criminal scheme which aimed to recruit men on the Coco.gg forum – since closed – to come and rape his wife, whom he had drugged beforehand, was sentenced to maximum of 20 years of criminal imprisonment.
Penalties less severe than requisitions
During these 15 weeks of hearing, the 50 co-defendants were questioned in small groups on the facts with which they were accused. 49 were tried for “aggravated rape” by two circumstances, the fact that it took place in a meeting and that Gisèle Pelicot was asleep. The last was on trial for sexual assault.
All of the sentences handed down are below the requisitions of the public prosecutor who had requested sentences of 4 to 18 years in prison. No acquittal was pronounced, certain facts were reclassified as sexual assault or attempted rape. Impairment of discernment, the question of which had been raised for around thirty defendants by their lawyers, was ruled out, with the exception of one defendant diagnosed as schizophrenic.
In total, six accused walked free. Three committal warrants with deferred effect, giving these defendants time to prepare for their detention due to their state of health. 32 defendants were sentenced to a lesser sentence of 10 years in prison. However, the attorneys general had requested sentences only longer than this duration.
In detail, the lightest sentence of 3 years including 2 years suspended was handed down against Joseph C. and Saifeddine G., tried for sexual assault, the facts being reclassified for the second. Others were not issued a committal warrant. This is particularly the case of Philippe L. sentenced to 5 years in prison, including 2 years with a simple suspended sentence, or Didier S. sentenced to the same sentence.
Mazan rapes: Gisèle Pelicot, the woman who wants to “change society”
32 requested acquittal
On the first day of the trial, 35 of the 50 co-defendants – one being on the run – had denied the facts. These men, now aged 27 to 74, were confronted with the broadcast, in front of the court and journalists, of videos filmed by Dominique Pelicot when they came to his home, after brief exchanges on Coco.gg or by message . Few people have watched these images where we see an inert woman, as if dead, lying like a dog on a bed, being abused by these men.
Despite these sordid and disturbing images, particularly because of the victim’s clearly audible snoring, 32 defendants filed requests for acquittal. Far from the requisitions of the attorneys general who demanded sentences of 4 to 18 years against them.
These men pleaded, until the last day, the absence of intention and their ignorance of the state of unconsciousness of the victim, believing they were participating in a libertine scenario. Their defense had warned of a “miscarriage of justice”.
The alteration of discernment debated
An argument came up frequently: these men would have been “manipulated”, “fooled” by “the monster”, “the ogre” Dominique Pelicot, who would have made them believe in the scenario of a libertine couple where his wife would pretend to sleep . Their clients’ actions were allegedly carried out “reluctantly”, “out of fear”, “to please”, by “error of judgment”, or even “by accident”.
For around thirty of them, the lawyers also requested that the question of impaired discernment be decided by the court, with certain defendants also believing that they had been drugged by Dominique Pelicot.
