Many daily newspapers in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Italy and Germany devote their front pages to the Mazan rape trial. Many salute the exceptional courage of Gisèle Pélicot.
The trial of Dominique Pélicot and the “Mazan rapists”, all convicted this Thursday, December 19 following a historic procedure, was covered by dozens of international media. The day after the verdict was announced, many of them, this Friday, December 20, dedicated their front page to Gisèle Pélicot, the victim of the 51 defendants found guilty.
She is “the bravest woman in the world”, writes the British daily Daily Mirror. The Daily Mail salutes “the elegant Frenchwoman with a heart of steel who has become the heroine of all victims of male abuse” and devotes a special seven-page report to the trial “which appalled the whole world”.
Almost all national dailies in the United Kingdom this Friday, December 20, devoted their front pages to the words of Gisèle Pélicot, from the Guardian to the Times via the Daily Express, who saluted this woman’s “courageous message of hope” “after horror.”
At the end of the trial, in front of the press, Gisèle Pelicot addressed her thoughts to “all the other families affected by this tragedy” and “to the unrecognized victims whose stories often remain in the shadows”, adding:
“I want you to know that we share the same fight.”
“The symbol of the fight against sexual violence”
In Germany too, many dailies are praising the figure of Gisèle Pélicot. “His victory against shame”, headlines Der Tagesspiegel. “She defeated the devil,” says Bild.
In Belgium, Le Soir instead headlines the verdict at the end of the historic trial: “All guilty”. And underlines that Gisèle Pélicot has “become the symbol of the fight against sexual violence”.
“The woman who conquered shame”, headlines La Stampa in Italy, which however evokes “bitter justice”. Because if all the accused were found guilty, the judges did not follow the prosecution’s requisitions in each of the 51 cases. Thus, some defendants emerged free from the Avignon court this Thursday.
Finally, in Portugal, the newspaper Publico highlights the declarations of Gisèle Pélicot at the end of the trial: “I have confidence in our ability to collectively seize a future.”
Early this Friday, press headlines from countries across the Atlantic were not yet available. But prestigious media outlets such as the New York Times and the Washington Post have devoted significant resources to covering the historic Mazan rape trial.
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