Dominique Pelicot and the other fifty suspects who raped Gisèle Pelicot for ten years under the influence of sleeping pills administered by her ex-husband face prison sentences of four to twenty years. The verdict could be made public on Thursday.
After more than three month trial of the Pelicot case, From this Monday, the judges of the Court of Avignon will retire to deliberate on the final decision: the verdict is expected on Thursday December 19.
The Public Prosecution Service has demanded between 4 and 20 years in prison for the 51 accused of raping Gisèle Pelicotcurrently 72 years old, already ten years under effects of sleeping pills managed by her ex-husband. He contacted them through a website and the rapes were captured on video by the main defendant, Dominique Pelicot, the victim’s ex-husband.
Anticipation is at its maximum in the process which has generated enormous national and international media attention and led to the concept of consent at the center of the debate.
Dominique Pelicot and the other fifty suspects in the rape of Gisèle Pelicot will have their last chance to testify in court on Monday, before the final verdict.
It is not known, at least officially, how many of the suspects will want to make their final statements, although it is speculated that the majority will prefer not to testify in an unprecedented open-door trial that has been held since last September at Gisèle’s express wish. who wanted that”shame will switch sides“.
Most of the accused, from 27 to 74 years old and from different social stratahave taken a position that ranges from denying that what they did was rape to justifying the actions because Dominique himself had “given permission” to abuse his own wife.
The concept of consent is one of the most prominent points that this process has put on the agenda. A debate has arisen in France about the need to include this concept in the criminal definition of rape, something that is divisive among lawyers, politicians and feminist associations.
Gisèle Pelicotconverted into one international symbol of feminist struggleassured that the wound opened during ten years of rapes, which she herself estimates to be about 200,”will never close“.
The Pelicots had three children: David (50 years old), Caroline (45) and Florian (38). The three testified at the trial, supporting their mother and sharply criticizing their father.
The case
The events that have been tried in Avignon since September 2 last year They took place between July 2011 and October 2020first in the Paris region and later in the house to which the Pelicots had moved when they retired to the town of Mazan, near sunny Avignon (southeast France).
Dominique Pelicot connected with other men on an online platform and invited them to his home after administering large doses of anxiolytics to his victim, rendering her unconscious, allowing them to abuse her without her having any memory.
All ended in September 2020 when he went arrested for shooting under the skirts of women in a supermarket in Carpentras and upon searching his computer files, investigators discovered thousands of videos and photographs depicting the rapes he subjected the victim to.
The main suspect is accused of gender violence in two other cases, one for the rape and murder of a woman in 1991 and the other for one attempted rape with a knife in 1999.
Source: EITB
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
