At the Vaucluse criminal court,
A deep sob runs through the room. Irrepressible. Animal, almost. That of a mother. The president of the Vaucluse criminal court has just announced that his son, one of the fifty men accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot, was sentenced to nine years in prison. As for twenty-three other accused, a committal warrant was issued against him: he who had arrived free will go to prison as soon as the hearing is over. She cannot see him and will not be able to hug him one last time: given the extraordinary crowds, the relatives of the accused follow the verdict in a broadcast room.
For almost an hour and a half, the president of the court, Roger Arata, delivered the epilogue of these fifteen weeks of hearing. Unsurprisingly, Dominique Pelicot was sentenced to the maximum sentence – twenty years – with a possible sentence of security detention. Hearing these words, “the ogre of Mazan” seemed particularly moved. Installed a few meters from him, facing the box, Gisèle Pelicot and her children remained stoic. Forty-eight defendants were also found guilty of “aggravated rape”, receiving sentences ranging from two years to fifteen years in prison. The last two were sentenced to one year in prison for “sexual assault”.
“This motherfucker only took twenty years”
If the sentences are all below those requested by the prosecution (except for Dominique Pelicot), only nine accused left the court free, three of whom are under a deferred committal warrant and should quickly be imprisoned. Many had prepared, arriving at the hearing with a large bag in preparation for possible detention. Before the verdict was read, here and there in the corridors of the court we saw companions, daughters and parents of the accused hugging them for a long time, their eyes red.
But even having prepared for it, the sentence comes as a shock. On the benches in the broadcast room, the daughter of an accused sobbed without being able to stop. A young woman suddenly stands up, with tears in her eyes, as she hears the court handing down a ten-year sentence to a defendant who we guess is her father. Solidarity is established. Many hug each other, console each other. There is anger, too, against Dominique Pelicot. “This bastard only took twenty years,” cries a woman, devastated.
« Justice complice »
Many will take a long time to leave this room, long after the verdict has been announced. Because outside, there’s excitement. Two hundred feminists demonstrate in front of the courthouse. When they learned the content of the sentences, they did not hide their frustration either. But because they find them too weak. “Accomplice justice”, “shame on justice”, “call from the prosecution”… they chant in chorus. They booed copiously the few accused left free, who had no other choice but to walk through this crowd to leave the court. Gisèle Pelicot received a long standing ovation. The police escort struggles to contain the crowd.
Our file on the Mazan rape case
And what does she think of these sentences? His children said they found them too low. Gisèle Pelicot did not talk about it during her brief statement, preferring to focus on the future. “I think of the unrecognized victims, whose stories often remain in the shadows. I want you to know that we share the same fight,” she said, saying she was confident in the ability “to seize a future in which everyone, women and men, can live in harmony.”
