What sentence should be imposed on Dominique Pelicot, this French septuagenarian who for ten years drugged and raped his wife? What punishment do the 49 men to whom he delivered her deserve? The prosecution will speak on Monday, at the Mazan rape trial, with the prosecution’s indictment.
AFP
The words of the prosecution, before the criminal court in Avignon (south of France), will be listened to with attention, as this trial has become symbolic of the fight against sexual and gender-based violence against women.
Covered in mondovision or almost, with 138 accredited media, including 57 foreign, it has an echo well beyond the French borders, as demonstrated again on Thursday by the declaration of the president of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies, who welcomed “the courage and dignity” of Gisèle Pelicot, “ordinary citizen who taught the whole world a lesson”.
The question of accomplices
Beyond the husband, who recognizes all the facts, the big question will be the following, for the two representatives of the public prosecutor, Jean-François Mayet and Laure Chabaud: Pelicot’s accomplices, these “Mr. world” aged 26 to 74, could they legitimately believe that they were participating in the scenario of a libertine couple, where the wife pretended to sleep?
Or was their discernment impaired at the time of the events, as the lawyers of 33 of them again assured on Wednesday morning, even if none of the psychologists or psychiatrists who examined them took this point into account?
On the official schedule, the indictment is scheduled for three days. According to information collected from the various parties by AFP, it could in fact end late Wednesday morning, with the prosecution estimating the time it will spend on each accused at around 15 minutes on average.
After eleven weeks of debate dedicated to examining the facts, the pleadings phase began on Wednesday with the victims’ lawyers: Gisèle Pelicot, 71, her three children, her two daughters-in-law and her grandchildren.
“Justice and truth” must be done for this family, Mr. Antoine Camus pleaded.
The sentences will be pronounced at the end of December by the five professional magistrates of the court, chaired by Roger Arata.
Twenty years maximum
Mostly prosecuted for aggravated rape, the 51 accused face a maximum of 20 years of criminal imprisonment.
For Dominique Pelicot, the first to be looked into by the prosecution on Monday, “the conductor” of these rapes, this sentence seems acquired. He himself says he wants prison, accused of having, from July 2011 to October 2020, doused his wife with anxiolytics to rape her and hand her over, unconscious, to dozens of strangers recruited on the internet.
The maximum sentence should also be requested for a 63-year-old man, alias “Rasmus”, tried for having replicated Dominique Pelicot’s process on his own wife, to rape her a dozen times, including several times in the company of his mentor. “Disciple” of Pelicot, he is the only one of the 51 accused to never have gone to the home of the Pelicot couple, in Mazan.
Among the other 49 co-defendants, 35 strongly denied having participated in “rape”. Some had, however, responded six times to the husband’s invitation.
Will the requested sentences be more severe for the ten men who came several times? And how will the prosecutors differentiate their requisitions for those who come only once?
After the Pelicot case, the prosecution announced that it would first discuss the more “minor” cases of two men aged 69 and 39, respectively accused of sexual assault and attempted rape.
After the indictment, Wednesday afternoon or Thursday at the latest, the floor will be given to the defense lawyers until December 13. It is Me Béatrice Zavarro, Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer, 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.
ATS
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