Alexia Daval’s mother, Isabelle Fouillot, said how much she was affected by the Mazan rape affair on RTL on December 8, 2024. She deplores the fact that society allows women to live in such a climate of violence .
Her daughter was killed by Jonathann Daval in October 2017. On Sunday, Alexia’s mother spoke about violence against women, through that which emerges from the Mazan rape case. “Touched” by the courage and resilience of Gisèle Pelicot, victim of dozens of rapes by chemical submission, Isabelle Fouillot returned to these tragedies with RTL.
“We are going to fight”
For Isabelle Fouillot, there is no doubt: “Society either doesn’t learn from its mistakes or doesn’t do much.” In such a climate of violence, of which women are the first victims, Alexia Daval’s mother expresses her anger at this type of tragedy.
“We are going to fight for all these young women victims”she insisted. Emphasizing the tragic death of his daughter: “We suffered such an intense tragedy.”
For Isabelle Fouillot, her daughter and Dominique Pelicot’s victim had things in common: “There are things that remind us of our tragedy. They had a bit of the same journey.” She said she was upset by the Mazan rape trial, still underway in Avignon.
The extraordinary trial of the Mazan rapes
In 2020, a complaint for invasion of privacy was filed against a sixty-year-old in Carpentras. This man is Dominique Pelicot. He was caught filming under the skirt of a customer in a supermarket. The police then seized his computer and discovered that the septuagenarian was hiding videos of his wife, Gisèle.
She appeared there naked, unconscious, and raped by dozens of men in her house in Mazan. Of the 80 people differentiated, only 50 were identified in addition to her husband. Four years later, the Mazan rape trial began on September 2, 2024 before the Vaucluse criminal court. Three months of hearings, expert opinions, analyses, during which the 51 accused tried to defend themselves.
In light of the hyper media coverage of the case, the requisitions were intended to be exemplary. From 4 to 20 years in prison were requested by the attorney general. The defense, for its part, played on two notions: consent and “l’intention” of rape. Difficult for the thousands of supporters of Gisèle Pelicot, established as a feminist icon for having asked for the closed session to be lifted, to hear this speech.
Belgium
