The dozen customers were silent to listen to the TV. “Twenty years. It takes twenty years”, announces the waitress of the brasserie “Le Siècle”, in the city center of Mazan. It’s 10:20 a.m., Thursday, December 19. The Vaucluse criminal court has just sentenced Dominique Pelicot to the maximum sentence pour having drugged, raped and had his wife raped. On the sidewalk opposite, Bastien Benotmane took his smartphone out of his pocket. The real estate agent is looking for names. “I know two people who are on the guilty list”he whispers. Embarrassed, he specifies: “There was one who entrusted me with the estimate of his house, another who re-tiled my bathroom.” Both, like the 51 accused, were found guilty.
The 6,300 Mazanais finally know the end. For a good number of them, this verdict puts an end to a particularly bad sequence. “It’s okay, can we live again in peace now?”moans Henri, dipping his lips in his cup of coffee. Four months that his commune is “the center of the world”four months that the 71-year-old retiree does not understand why. “Dominique Pelicot, he moved in with us for his retirement, he wasn’t someone from here, it has nothing to do with it. Why were they talking about the Mazan affair on TV? It should have just been the Pelicot affair!”
Mazan wants to regain his peace. Since the trial opened on September 2, it is no longer for its wines, its asparagus and its strawberries that we take departmental road 974. Almost all downtown merchants were treated to visits from journalists or curious people. The bakery? Requested. Driving school? Requested. The bar? Solicited. Lhe snack bar “Le Ventoux” even saw an American media arrive in its tiny shop, with camera, boom microphone and lighting equipment.
Fiona was grooming two golden retrievers in her boutique on Avenue de l’Europe when a lady presenting herself as an academic came to introduce her to “a survey”. “She said to me: ‘It’s related to the case, can I ask you some questions?’ I replied: “But ma’am, I’m an animal groomer!” A business manager, who wishes to remain anonymous, says he received a phone call, “one evening at 9 p.m.”, “from an asshole who wanted the address of the Pelicot house.” “Some nonsense…”
Even municipal police officers were attacked while on duty. They also had to revise the itinerary of their rounds, as investigative elements filtered out of the trial. The gymnasium parking lot, near the college, was mentioned by almost all of the accused. This is where they parked their vehicle while waiting for the green light from Dominique Pelicot to come to the couple’s home: “When she sleeps well, you can come.” This very close neighbor of the Pelicots still can’t believe it: “The other day, I saw a couple walking with their eyes glued to the GPS on their phone. They explained to me that they had searched for ‘pelicot mazan house address’ on Google.”
A vehicle that is not registered “84” is a first clue. If he drives at a walking pace, it’s a second one. “Apart from sordid tourism, what is it actually? annoys a craftsman who lives in the neighborhood. It’s like we’ve become curious animals. We’re humans, right, with two arms, two legs.”
The Mazanais must be cunning to make themselves forgotten. They sort out these requests like we cut short a cold call. A local resident, who lives 80 meters from the Pelicot home, says he has removed the geographical location on his Facebook account. When he goes on vacation, Jean-François Clapaud no longer wants to say that he comes from Mazan. “I answer that I live in Provence. At best, I would specify that it is a town which is at the foot of Ventoux, no more.” he sighs. Lhe opposition municipal councilor recalls the case of Carpentras, 15 minutes away. “More than thirty years later, what are people thinking about in their heads? Well, still the desecration of Jewish graves…”
“Carpentras, Outreau… I’m afraid that it will be the same for Mazan, that we will associate this terrible affair with our town for life.”
Jean-François Clapaud, opposition municipal councilorat franceinfo
“The picture”. “Reputation”. It is for these reasons that the real estate agency Sotheby’s decided to close its Mazan office a month ago. Direction Gordes, 25 kilometers further south. Pascal Danneau, director of the Provence Luberon Sotheby’s International Realty agency, “assume”. “We may find this choice radical, but itThis is a strategic calculation on our part. We didn’t want customers to be able to say ‘Mazan, Mazan… Is this the Mazan they heard in the media?’ WrongFortunately, I think this affair will mark the town for a very long time.” Bastien Benotmane wants to touch wood: “For the moment, I do not observe any effect on our activityreassures the real estate agent. Yet no one has come to tell me that they no longer want to buy here.”
The affair upset Mazan. Stunned at first, then tense. Opposition elected officials went so far as to demand the mayor’s resignation when he sought to minimize the Pelicot affair by telling the BBC that“after all, no one died.” Since this release, the chosen one has benefited from reinforced protection and no longer speaks to the press. “This terrible story is a civil matter which in no way concerns the administration of this municipality, we were politely replied in writing. The aggressive and uncontrollable behavior of many journalists, more interested in caring for their audience, confirms our decision not to no longer grant any interviews.” The conclusion is neat: “Like all elected officials, the entire Mazan population remains marked by abuse unbearable suffering suffered by Mrs. Gisèle Pelicot.”
Yet, the white march organized on October 5 in the streets of the town in support of Gisèle Pelicot raised eyebrows, particularly within the municipal team. “There was resistanceeuphemize the organizers. Some criticize us for adding light to light. In their eyes, the most important thing is the reputation of the village. I heard people from the town say ‘La Pelicot, she’s starting to bore us’.”
The societal debate sparked throughout France by the Pelicot affair has inevitably reached Mazan. “It opened up speech among the women around mesays Viviane, a 39-year-old mother, encountered on the Place du 8-Mai. Yesterday, I told a mother of a student that this needed to happen at home so that we could face the problem. We have to say to ourselves that we are making history.”
At the entrance to Mazan, in the middle of the vineyards, an association helps women victims of violence to rebuild their lives through interaction with horses. In three years, between 40 and 50 women pushed the wooden barrier of the Isofaculté center. “The debates contributed to the therapy of the women we support, agrees Daniel Silvestre, psychotherapist and founder of the association. The fact that Gisèle Pelicot asked for the debates to be opened to the public created a form of familiarity, of proximity. Here, we are less than three kilometers from the house in which the atrocities she suffered took place.”
“With this trial, women came to us. Without that, they would have stayed at home.”
Daniel Silvestre, founder of the Isofaculté associationat franceinfo
On October 18, around 4:30 p.m., the horses were doing their last laps around the track when a lady, alone, walked in the distance, sunglasses on her eyes. A facilitator approached to find out how to help her. It was Gisèle Pelicot. “OHe didn’t think she was going to come back to Mazan during her trial. Well yes. She explained to us that she often walks around our house, and that she wanted thank us for our various initiatives in favor of women. It was a moment as unexpected as it was powerful.”tell Marion Vogel, director of the Isofaculté association, also behind the initiative of the white march.
Gisèle Pelicot remained a thirty minutes. Manon, 16, spoke to him a few words. “I told her: ‘You are strong, ma’am. You are remarkable'”, he rememberslle, in strap on the sleeves of his hoodie. The teenage girl, out of school, is herself victim of domestic violence.
On Saturday, the Isofaculté association is organizing its traditional solidarity Christmas. This year, the event is intended to support Gisèle Pelicot and all women victims of violence. “We are in contact with his daughter. Yes, Gisèle was invited.”
