What sentence should be imposed on Dominique Pelicot, accused of having drugged and raped his wife, Gisèle Pelicot, for almost a decade? And what sentences do the 49 men to whom he delivered her deserve? The prosecution has the floor, Monday November 25, at the Mazan rape trial, with the prosecution's indictment, before the Vaucluse criminal court. If the husband admits all of the facts, the two representatives of the public prosecutor's office, Jean-François Mayet and Laure Chabaud, will have to determine whether the other accused, aged 26 to 74, could legitimately believe that they participated in the scenario of a libertine couple, where the wife pretended to be sleeping. Among Dominique Pelicot's co-defendants, most have firmly denied having participated in a “viol”. Follow our live stream.
An indictment over three days. According to the official schedule, this indictment is scheduled to last three days. According to information collected from the various parties, it could end late Wednesday morning, with the prosecution estimating the time it will spend on each accused at around fifteen minutes on average. The majority of them, prosecuted for aggravated rape, face up to twenty years of criminal imprisonment.
The floor will then be given to the defense. After the indictment, Wednesday afternoon or Thursday at the latest, the floor will be given to the defense lawyers until December 13. It is Béatrice Zavarro, the lawyer for Dominique Pelicot, the main accused in this trial, who will speak first. The court will then have one week to deliberate, starting Monday, December 16, with a verdict expected on December 20 at the latest.
Gisèle Pelicot wants to “change mentalities”. “By this almost political gesture of renouncing the closed session”the septuagenarian has “invited all of society to ask questions, to change mentalities, for a future that would finally break with a violence that we wish for another age”declared Antoine Camus, one of his lawyers, on Wednesday during his pleading. “Gisèle Pelicot’s consent was never a matter of concern for the accused”pleaded his colleague, Stéphane Babonneau, denouncing “their contempt” towards the victim.
Dominique Pelicot explains his “mobile”. Described as the “conductor” of this extraordinary case, the 71-year-old accused reaffirmed Tuesday that he had committed these rapes “through people who have voluntarily accepted”. “I must admit that subduing a rebellious woman was my fantasy, out of pure selfishness, without making her suffer”he declared, to explain nearly ten years of repeated rapes against his now ex-wife.
