Maximum term of 20 years sought in French rape trial for husband who drugged wife
Outside view of the courthouse during the trial of Dominique Pelicot, a Frenchman accused of drugging his wife Gisele Pelicot and recruiting dozens of strangers to rape her at their home in the southern French town of Mazan, with 50 co-accused, in Avignon, France, on Nov 20, 2024. (File photo: REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier)
AVIGNON, France: French prosecutors said on Monday (Nov 25) they were seeking the maximum 20-year jail term for the man charged with enlisting dozens of strangers to rape his heavily-sedated wife, in a trial that has shaken France.
Dominique Pelicot has since September been in the dock in the southern city of Avignon with 49 other men for organising the rapes and sexual abuse of his now ex-wife Gisele Pelicot. One man is being tried in absentia.
The case has shocked France, which like other countries has seen a series of sexual abuse cases, and a prosecutor told the court that the trial needed to herald a fundamental change in relations between men and women.
"Twenty years is a lot because it is 20 years of a life ... But it is both a lot and too little. Too little in view of the seriousness of the acts that were committed and repeated," prosecutor Laure Chabaud said, outlining the case against Dominique Pelicot.
Dominique Pelicot has himself said he wants to go to prison for plying Gisele Pelicot with anti-anxiety drugs regularly from July 2011 to October 2020, leaving her exposed to abuse by strangers recruited online.
He documented the crimes extensively in photos and videos later discovered by police after he was caught filming up women's skirts in public.
His lawyer Beatrice Zavarro told reporters it was not a surprise that prosecutors had sought the longest sentence possible.
"It's a very emotional moment," said Gisele Pelicot as she entered the courtroom.
"FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE"
Beyond Dominique Pelicot, who has admitted to all of the charges, prosecutors must also decide on punishments for the other defendants: men aged 26 to 74 and from all walks of life.
"This trial is shaking up our society in our relationship with each other, in the most intimate relationships between human beings," Jean-Francois Mayet, the other prosecutor, told the court.
The trial is making French society work "to understand our needs, our emotions, our desires and above all to take into account those of others", he said.
What is at stake, he added, "is not a conviction or an acquittal" but "to fundamentally change the relations between men and women".
Many accused argued in court that they believed Dominique Pelicot's claim they were participating in a libertine fantasy, in which his then-wife had consented to sexual contact and was only pretending to be asleep.
Among them, 33 have also claimed they were not in their right minds when they abused or raped Gisele Pelicot - a defence not backed up by any of the psychological reports compiled by court-appointed experts.
"In 2024, we can no longer say 'since she said nothing, she agreed'," said Chabaud. "The absence of consent could not be ignored by the defendants."
Sentencing requests are slated to take three full days in the court's agenda, with prosecutors estimating an average of 15 minutes per defendant.
Most, including Dominique Pelicot, are charged with aggravated rape.
"The facts, and the personality of each accused, were taken into account even in our sentencing demands," Mayet added.
"YOU WERE RIGHT"
As 11 weeks of hearings ended last week, one of Gisele Pelicot's lawyer, Antoine Camus, called for "truth and justice" to be rendered to the women, her children, David, Caroline and Florian, and her grandchildren.
The court's five judges are expected to issue their verdicts and sentences around Dec 20.
Prosecutors requested a 17-year prison sentence for one defendant Jean-Pierre M., 63, who applied Dominique Pelicot's practices against his own wife to rape her a dozen times, sometimes in the presence of Pelicot himself.
On the last occasion, Jean-Pierre's wife woke up. "I ask my husband what's going on. He says it's to see my underwear and then he gets caught up in his lies," said his wife, Cilia M., who did not press charges to protect their five children, one of whom is disabled.
Of the remaining accused, 35 completely deny taking part in a rape.
Observers will be watching whether prosecutors ask for heavier penalties for those who came to rape Gisele Pelicot multiple times than for those who answered Dominique Pelicot's invitation once.
The trial has made Gisele Pelicot, who insisted the hearings be held in public, a feminist icon in the fight of women against sexual abuse.
Prosecutor Mayet praised the "courage" and "dignity" of Gisele Pelicot, the victim of some 200 repeated rapes, half of which were attributed to her ex-husband.
Mayet thanked her for allowing hearings to be open to the public and allowing some of the 20,000 or so photos and videos taken without her knowledge by Dominique Pelicot to be shown.
"You were right, madam: the past few weeks have shown the importance of showing this, so that shame changes sides," he added.
