The Public Prosecution Service demanded 650 years in prison for all suspects, 51 men between 27 and 74 years old, including her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot.
The Avignon court sentenced Dominique Pelicot to twenty years in prison, the maximum penalty, for the multiple rapes of his ex-wife, Gisèle Pelicot, whom he drugged with high doses of anxiolytics to leave her unconscious and kept her for ten years abused. , along with fifty men he invited online.
On November 27, the Public Prosecution Service requested: 650 years in prison for the total number of crimes, including both rapes and sexual assaults against the 72-year-old victim, who became a global feminist symbol for the decision that the trial would be public ‘so the shame could switch sides’. A total of 51 men have taken the stand in this case.
The highest penalty requested20 years old (the maximum considered by law in France), is for her ex-husband and mastermind behind the plan, Dominique Pelicot72 years old, who recognized all the facts from the beginning of the trial and assured that his fantasy was ‘to subdue a non-submissive woman’.
He abused her and put her in danger from 2011 to 2020, drugged her and invited other men to rape her.
Another suspect, Jean-Pierre Maréchaladmitted the crimes at trial, although he never touched Gisèle Pelicot, instead replicating the main suspect’s methods with his own wife, who was also raped by both men under the influence of anxiolytics.
The lowest sentence requested by the Public Prosecution Service, four years, applies to another man accused only of sexual assault, without charges of rape.
The rest, aged 27 to 74, faced sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years in prison for aggravated rape.
The case
The facts assessed in the Pelicot case They took place between July 2011 and October 2020first in the Paris region and from 2013 in the house where the Pelicots moved when they retired, located in Mazan, a city of 6,000 inhabitants near 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.
