“This fight is for all of us”: these words from Gisèle Pelicot which upset Manon, who came to meet her at the Mazan trial

Thursday 10th October 2024 10:09 AM

The young woman offered him a bouquet of flowers during a recess of the hearing, before bursting into tears after telling him that she had come with her family to attend this day at the Vaucluse criminal court.

Manon, a young woman who came to attend the Mazan rape trial this Thursday, October 10, at the Vaucluse criminal court, burst into tears a few moments after giving a bouquet of flowers to Gisèle Pelicot, who warmly thanked and kissed her , before entering the courtroom again.

“This fight is for all of us,” said the septuagenarian, who since the opening of the trial on September 2, has become a global symbol of victims of sexual violence, after demanding that the trial be public, so that it can serve to raise awareness and advance thinking. on the notion of consent.

Hundreds of rapes organized by her husband

For 10 years, Gisèle Pelicot was the unwitting victim of hundreds of rapes perpetrated by her husband, who administered sleeping pills to her before abusing her, and who also brought dozens of strangers recruited on the internet to their home in Mazan, near Carpentras, so that they in turn raped her while she was unconscious. Dominique Pelicot, also indicted for attempted rape and murder in the Paris region in the 90s, filmed and preserved all the images of these scenes.

“She’s just impressive.”

Fifty-one defendants are being tried for aggravated rape in this lengthy trial, scheduled until mid-December, and which is now being closely followed around the world.

“I think a lot of us are moved by what is currently happening here, by the marathon she is doing” Manon then explained. “I think we’re all the more touched by the fact that it’s happening at home. And she’s just impressive.”

“There is a need for feminist fights, for organizations and to be in the streets and to change the legislation and I hope that this trial will allow it. She is the age of my mother and we could all be in his place. And the day I am in his place, I hope that there will be people who will come to support me and that there will be justice that will work and that will have evolved.” she added, before joining the audience.