No more free place in the courtroom this morning. Ditto in the broadcast room reserved for journalists. Gisèle Pelicot took her place in the civil parties rectangle with her two sons, Florian and David. Yesterday, they demanded their father tell the truth about his actions in front of their tearful mother. After questioning an accused, the latter takes the stand one last time in this extraordinary trial in solemn silence. More than two months have passed since France discovered this woman and the atrocities she suffered. Gone are the sunglasses with dark lenses, and gone is the shy woman whom his lawyers seemed to hold at arm's length. Yes, she is tired. Tired.
She says it herself in the preamble: “Since the start of this trial I have heard a lot of inaudible things […] I knew what I was going to expose myself to by renouncing the closed session. I admit it, fatigue is felt, I have been omnipresent in this room “. But despite this fatigue, the voice is assured. More than it was at the beginning of September. Because despite the weight of the revelations weighing on her shoulders, her combativeness has never left her.
« At what point did Madame Pelicot give you consent when you saw this inert body? », she asks the accused. She looks at them, she is not afraid. And as if encouraged by her own verve, she continues full of confidence. “ I heard yes, I was drugged, Dominique Pelicot manipulated me and this and that… for me, it’s the trial of cowardice, there are no other words », she asserts in a firm voice. Gisèle Pelicot has taken stock of the affair of which she is the heroine in spite of herself. She doesn't hide or hide anymore. She is no longer the victim who fell from the nest of the beginning. She is a woman fighting for her own survival. And she wants to confront these men. “ When did you not hit? Why not denounce all this? », she asks them.
Few look into her eyes. Is she a muse for the fight of so many silent women? No doubt, although she didn't choose that either. Because her voice wants to be that of all women. And she assumes this status that has been assigned to her. “Society needs to open its eyes to the fact that we are in a macho, patriarchal society where rape is trivialized. “, she says. The one who called her ex-husband “Monsieur Pelicot” throughout the trial, returns once again to the man who shared her life for fifty years. The happy years that she now recalls with great hindsight. This too is new, like the completion of a belated awareness. The trial will have allowed him to analyze the latter's attitudes towards him differently.
“He was always very considerate and kind to me. He accompanied me to medical appointments, but it was probably to reassure himself”
“He was always very considerate and kind to me. He accompanied me to medical appointments, but it was probably to reassure himself “, she admits. The same goes for her sex life, which two months ago she judged to be completely fulfilled and classic. Gisèle Pelicot, standing straight in her boots, offers the court the new prism through which she now views her life. It's painful, but heartbreakingly honest. “ Mr. Pelicot had a lot of fantasies, he was frustrated. What he wanted was Madame Pelicot, not another person, and he found the solution by chemically subjugating her. “, she explains.
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Gisèle, the courage to tell the truth
The defense is invited to speak. We hear the sultry lawyer Nadia El Bouroumi manhandling Gisèle Pelicot. It begins with a trick question: “ Why every time Dominique Pelicot is absent from the hearings – for medical reasons – do you not show up either? “. Is she insinuating that there remains some semblance of a relationship between the two spouses? No doubt. Gisèle Pelicot is not destabilized for a penny. His lawyers get annoyed and try to speak but Me El Bouroumi objects. She also claims that Gisèle Pelicot went to the prison to visit her ex-husband. “ “ I dropped off Mr. Pelicot's first bag of clothes in December 2020 because I was organizing my move “, she replies calmly. We see Maître Camus and Maître Babonneau, Madame Pelicot's two lawyers, extremely annoyed behind their client but silent, convinced that she knows perfectly well what she has to say. “ She was perfectly prepared for it », His lawyer Antoine Camus told us before this hearing.
The lawyer continues her destabilizing work. It aims to make people believe that Madame Pelicot still has feelings for her ex-husband. “ You had very harsh words against the accused but not Mr. Pelicot: why is it so difficult for you to have a clear position? », asks Me El Bouroumi. Gisèle Pelicot doesn't blink. She is now that woman. Sure of herself. “I said I was betrayed “, she specifies. Opposite, true to herself, the lawyer gets excited. “ You intervened when Mr. Pelicot's brother came to the stand to say that his brother was a monster, that's surprising, don't you think? In terms of proportionality, the accused betrayed you less than your husband… “, she continues.
Gisèle Pelicot is a reed. He has bent a lot over the last two months but will not break and certainly not today where only determination can be seen on his face. “Those who took responsibility for the rapes, I looked them in the eyes. As for Joel Pelicot, he softened the image of my father who was a tyrannical being. So I think my ex-husband's childhood was very difficult and yes, he was a victim of rape at the age of 8, that's not something you make up. But this childhood obviously does not justify everything”she explains calmly. And it is up to the lawyer to conclude that the victim is still under the influence of her ex-husband whom she is trying to defend against her will. Gisèle Pelicot does not react to the provocation.
Gisèle, under the influence?
We then return to what the septuagenarian suffered alongside her husband. Always very calm, she recounts the two rapes per week of her husband, particularly before he was arrested in November 2020. The 200 rapes in total. Paul-Roger Gontard, still on the defense side, observes that Gisèle Pelicot declared “ he didn't let me go » concerning her ex-husband who accompanied her during all her medical checks. She also finds a very clear explanation there: “ Yes I was very anxious, I took it as kindness… I have since changed my mind “, she says.
“I can only assess today that my whole life is a lie”
The lawyer then explains that he is “ difficult to imagine this behavior as devoid of any cunning, of any shenanigans “. He also believes that there was a form of control. Gisèle Pelicot specifies that it is a chemical influence. “The rest, I did what I wanted “. Both of his sons nod in validation. The defense maintains that the verbatim of the septuagenarian with regard to her former husband is “ positive “. The victim's lawyers are moving around in their benches, visibly in disagreement. Gisèle Pelicot does not seem at all troubled by the defense's ideas. She tells the stand of her suffering after the revelation of the facts, her hours of walking to protect herself, a form of therapy and a lot of chocolate, “ his guilty pleasure ».
She also agrees that she suffered barbaric acts from her husband. Is she ready to qualify sudden acts in this way and thus put Dominique Pelicot at risk of life imprisonment? The flutter in his eyes is barely noticeable. This woman is being asked to condemn a man. Her ex-husband and father of her three children. « We didn't mention it “, she said without trembling, referring to her lawyers. We also return to her extra-marital affair forgiven by her husband. “Did this ordeal accentuate the admiration you had for him? », asks Me Gontard. Gisèle Pelicot is put to the test for this last audition and yet, she has never been so sure of herself. “ No, I never felt admiration because he forgave me. It was more for his sporting exploits: he ran the marathon “, she specifies. One of his lawyers smiles. The strength is in her. And the court feels it at the end of this historic morning. “I can only assess today that my whole life is a lie », she concludes philosophically.
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