Gisèle Pelicot’s children “disappointed with these low sentences”

None of the family members wanted to speak to Dominique Pelicot after he was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The children of Gisèle Pelicot said they were “disappointed” with the sentences imposed on the 51 accused in the Mazan rape trial, which range from 3 to 20 years of criminal imprisonment, considering them too “low”, in a statement Thursday, December 19 to the AFP.

“The children are disappointed with these low sentences,” commented a member of the Pelicot family, who asked to remain anonymous. None of the family members wanted to speak to Dominique Pelicot after his sentence to the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison: “there is no question of it”, said this source.

Sentences below requisitions

The departmental criminal court sentenced Dominique Pelicot’s 50 co-defendants to sentences ranging from 3 to 15 years in prison.

All of the sentences handed down fell short of the demands 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.

For his part, Dominique Pelicot, described as the “conductor” of the criminal scheme to rape his wife, whom he had previously drugged, was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 20 years of criminal imprisonment.