Dominique Pelicot, along with 50 other men, will face prison for the rape of Pelicot’s wife, Gisèle Pelicot, which occurred repeatedly for more than a decade
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Dominique Pelicot was convicted of rape, in a historic trial that transformed the victim, his wife Gisèle Pelicot, into a feminist heroine.
Pelicot pleaded guilty to drugging and raping his wife for nearly a decade, inviting other men he met online to their home to do the same. In all, 50 men, including Dominique Pelicot, were charged with aggravated rape and attempted rape. Another man was tried for aggravated sexual assault.
The debate against rape culture in France resulting from the Pelicot case
The agonizing ordeal inflicted over nearly a decade on Gisèle Pelicot in what she thought was a love marriage and her courage during the stunning trial transformed the retired power company worker into a feminist heroine of the nation.
The trial, which lasted more than three months, galvanized activists against sexual violence and has spurred calls for tougher measures to eliminate rape culture.
For more than three months, the southern city of Avignon and its courthouse have been the scene of intense debate, horrific testimony and women’s rights activism that has reverberated around the world.
Local feminist groups regularly protested on the sidelines of the hearings and raised slogans in the streets surrounding the court. They continued their efforts Wednesday evening, posting new messages and hanging a banner along Avignon’s medieval walls reading: “Thank you Gisèle.”
“I think that in these four months society has already changed,” said activist Fanny Fourès. “A lot of men, well, they try to talk more to us, to their girlfriends, to their friends,” he added. “A dialogue has begun.”
Expand the definition of rape in France and mention consent
The 51 men were all accused of taking part in the rape and abuse of Dominique Pelicot, carried out at the couple’s home in the small Provençal town of Mazan and elsewhere.
Dominique Pelicot testified that he hid tranquilizers in his food and in the drinks he gave to his then wife, stunning her so profoundly that he could do whatever he wanted to her for hours.
One of the men was on trial not for assaulting Gisèle Pelicot, but for drugging and raping his own wife, with the help and drugging of Dominique Pelicot, who was also on trial for raping the other man’s wife.
The five judges voted on their sentences by secret ballot, with a majority vote required to convict and also to sentence offenders.
Activists see the trial as a possible turning point in the fight against rape culture and the use of drugs to subdue victims.
Dominique Pelicot was first noticed by police in September 2020, when a supermarket security guard caught him secretly filming women’s skirts.
Police then found his library of homemade images documenting years of abuse inflicted on his wife, more than 20,000 photos and videos in all, stored on computer drives and cataloged in folders labeled “abuse,” “his rapists,” “night alone” and other titles.
The abundance of evidence led the police to the other defendants. In the videos, investigators counted 72 different abusers, but could not identify them all.
Although some of the defendants, including Dominique Pelicot, acknowledged being guilty of rape, many did not, even in the face of video evidence. The hearings have sparked a wider debate in France over whether to expand the legal definition of rape to include a specific mention of consent.
Some defendants argued that Dominique Pelicot’s consent also concerned his wife. Some tried to justify their behavior by insisting that they had no intention of raping anyone when they responded to their husband’s invitations to come to their home. Some blamed him, saying he had deceived them into believing they were participating in consensual kink.
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