AVIGNON, France (CN) — In a case that has sent shock waves through France, 51 men are on trial for raping Gisèle Pelicot while she was unconscious in a scheme prosecutors say was systematically orchestrated by her husband, Dominique Pelicot.
To raise awareness about sexual abuse, she decided against keeping the proceedings anonymous — standard procedure for sexual abuse survivors in France — and opted instead for an open trial.
Gisèle Pelicot, 71, has been lauded for her bravery throughout the case, which began Sept. 2.
Lawyer Stephane Babonneau, who represents her, told French media she wanted to show “that shame must change sides.”
According to police, the abuse spanned a decade and happened mostly in their family home in Mazan, a town in Provence with a population of 6,000. Dominique Pelicot is accused of drugging his wife and inviting strangers he encountered online to rape her while he took videos. His lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, has told French media he admits to the crimes.
Police say Dominique Pelicot filmed most of the rapes, which is ultimately how he was caught and how his wife learned of the accusations. When police took his computer while investigating another case — he was accused of filming under women’s skirts in a supermarket — they discovered footage of apparent assaults between 2011 and 2020. There were roughly 20,000 videos and photographs on a USB drive connected to the computer.
The trial in Avignon Judicial Court, about a 35-minute drive away, is pushing forward for now despite Dominique Pelicot’s hospitalization earlier in the week. Lead Judge Roger Arata will decide Monday whether to continue if the main defendant is absent.
The circumstances of the hospitalization are not entirely clear. His lawyer has said that Dominique Pelicot had been suffering from abdominal pain.
The Pelicots have three children, who have joined their mother in the courtroom, and seven grandchildren. Their daughter, Caroline Darian, wrote a book detailing the story after learning about her father.
“I was sacrificed on the altar of vice,” Gisèle Pelicot said in court last week. She has divorced her husband.
“I no longer have an identity … I don’t know if I’ll ever rebuild myself,” she said.
On Thursday, roughly 100 people — lawyers, journalists, judges — gathered in the courthouse in Avignon to hear testimony. Some of the other accused men, ranging from their 20s to 70s, were seated in an enclosed glass space, and many wore masks. A few sat with their heads in their hands.
Of the 51 accused, 18 are in custody, including Pélicot, and all but one of the other defendants are attending the trial as free men. The final defendant is still at large and will be judged in absentia.
Most face up to 20 years in jail if they are found guilty of aggravated rape.
In France, judges are given an investigative record of the case to review before the trial. Rather than a battle between two sides of a story, the trial focuses more on verifying the evidence and record on file. Defendants do not testify under oath. Lawyers dress in traditional formal robes, which are long, black and usually have a white collar.
An investigator took the stand early in the afternoon and presented the case over the course of an hour. The story he recounted was roughly the same for each instance: Dominique Pelicot contacted men through Coco.fr, a site that has since been shut down, and invited them to the couple’s house to rape his unconscious wife.
The defense argues that Dominique Pelicot presented this as a kink, and that the men didn’t know Gisèle Pelicot had been drugged.
The courthouse was silent as the investigator recounted the details. One judge was continuously shaking his head as he took notes.
Dominique Pelicot instructed almost all of the men to wash their hands with warm water and refrain from smoking, so as to not wake her, the investigator said. He repeatedly emphasized that the men didn’t ask questions about Gisèle Pelicot’s state of consciousness.
“He told them not to make any noise upon arrival,” the investigator said. “He said his wife was sleeping … . He gave her enough drugs to sleep for four to five hours.”
The investigator briefly outlined at least a dozen separate instances of abuse, and the method appeared to be systematic.
On Thursday, the video evidence was a central element to the line of defense. One lawyer argued that the accused men wouldn’t have allowed taping if they thought they were doing something illegal.
“Do you think that someone who thinks they’re committing a crime would agree to being filmed and photographed?” he asked the courtroom.
The case has rattled Provence and France as a whole.
Natinath, who asked to go by her artist name, was sitting in her shop and studio on a narrow street near the courthouse, working on a piece on Thursday.
“It’s mind blowing,” she told Courthouse News. “It’s catastrophic, and all my heart is with this woman and her family — to discover that they have a father who’s a sexual predator must be very hard.”
Natinath said that the town has been in shock. In her view, it’s unthinkable that this lasted for so long without interference.
“How did this go on for 10 years with no one sounding the alarm?” she said. “People are talking about it.”