For a decade, Dominique Pelicot drugged his now ex-wife Gisèle Pelicot with anxiolytics, to make her his sexual object and deliver her to dozens of men recruited on the internet. He received 20 years of criminal imprisonment.
The 50 co-defendants, all men, aged 27 to 74, received sentences of between three years in prison, two of which were suspended, and 15 years in prison.
The public prosecutor had requested sentences of 10 to 18 years’ imprisonment against the 49 co-defendants tried for aggravated rape or attempted rape, i.e. sentences significantly more severe than those ultimately handed down.
Mazan rape trial: Dominique Pelicot sentenced to the maximum sentence, the other accused get off with sentences lower than the requisitions
Dominique Pelicot does not rule out appealing, said his lawyer Béatrice Zavarro. “We will take advantage of the ten-day period granted to us to find out whether we are appealing this decision (…) and to find out whether we must again be submitted to a popular jury this time,” declared Me Zavarro to the press following the delivery of the verdict in Avignon by the Vaucluse criminal court, made up of five professional magistrates.
“As Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer, I wanted the debates to be calm, they were and this is a good thing for the work of justice,” added Me Zavarro.
“I believe that we are within the framework of a responsibility for the time assumed by Dominique Pelicot, of a dignity of Ms. Pelicot,” she said again.
“I said at the start of the debates that Mr. Pelicot was not necessarily the conductor and the others were not the musicians. However, by stating this verdict, the Court condemned the conductor orchestra by making a difference between him and the different musicians who make up this orchestra, including act,” she said.
