Serial rapes in France: defendants demand acquittal and reduced sentences

For the first time since the beginning of the pleadings at the serial rape trial in France, the defense of an accused requested the acquittal of his client on Monday, others, a reprieve or sentences significantly lower than those required by the parquet.

Dominique Pelicot, against whom the maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment was requested last week, has always admitted to having unknowingly drugged his ex-wife Gisèle, for a decade, to rape her and have her raped by dozens of men at their home in Mazan, in the south of France.

And all these men were informed that she would be unconscious, he always maintained.

In their indictment, the two attorneys general had accredited this thesis by demanding sentences of between 10 and 18 years of criminal imprisonment for the 49 co-defendants of Dominique Pelicot, tried for rape or attempted rape since September 2 by the criminal court of Vaucluse , in Avignon (south).

Fiftieth co-accused, Joseph C., 69 years old, is an exception: only prosecuted for sexual assaultfailing to have had an erection, he saw the public prosecutor request a four-year prison sentence against him with a warrant of committal.

On the one hand, you have ”the ogre of Mazan”, perverse, egocentric, diabolical, with colossal responsibility. And on the other, there are the little thumbs, the little fish, fooled, deceived, rolled in flourdeclared his lawyer, Christophe Bruschi, on Monday.

Joseph C. had plans to have a libertine affair, but he categorically denies having known that Ms. Pelicot would be druggedinsisted the lawyer, asking relax.

I too could have pleaded for acquittal, but that was not my client’s request.then explained Paul-Roger Gontard, lawyer for Cyrille D., a 54-year-old construction worker against whom the public prosecutor requested 12 years of imprisonment.

Unlike most of the accused, Cyrille D. admitted to being guilty of rapebecause he did not have had consent by Gisèle Pelicot. I was naive, stupid, an assrecognized at the hearing this man who is accused of having inserted his penis into the mouth of the unconscious Gisèle Pelicot.

Faced with maneuvers of Dominique Pelicot, who had made him the puppet of his own desireil had lost the possibility to exercise his free will, affirmed his lawyer, requesting that his impaired discernment at the time of the facts.

Mr. Gontard requested a sentence less than the 12 years required by the prosecution, asking as a bonus that it be accompanied by a probationary suspension, to prevent him from going to prison again.

In their pleadings on Wednesday and Thursday, the lawyers for the first five defendants, including Dominique Pelicot, pleaded guilty, however considering the prosecution’s requisitions to be very exaggerated.

Antoine Minier, who defends three accused, also expressed his incomprehension faced with the severity of the prosecution, recalling that the sentence must take into account the seriousness of the factsbut also the personality of the accused and their capacity for reintegration.

For Saifeddine G., against whom the prosecution requested 10 years of imprisonment, the lawyer requested a sentence which allows him to leave free. This 37-year-old truck driver only did mimic penetration, which constitutes sexual assault, for which he must be punished, but not rape or attempted aggravated rape, said Mr. Minier.

Paul G., 31 years old, has him admitted the facts since his first hearingcontinued the lawyer, asking the court to do not follow the 10 years required for a man tried for acts more than eight years old and who has since been fully reinstated.

As for Abdelali D., a 47-year-old cook who came to Mazan twice, for whom 13 years were required, he must be sentenced accordinglybut also taking into account a state of health incompatible with detention since his stroke in 2019, estimated Mr. Minier.

Oral arguments will resume on Tuesday and continue until December 13. The verdict is expected no later than December 20.