AP – A mammoth rape trial in France moved into a new phase as prosecutors began to lay out the verdicts and punishments they want for dozens of men accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot while she was drugged and rendered unconscious by her husband.
After hearings stretching over nearly three months, the trial of 51 defendants in the southern city of Avignon is beginning to wrap up. Pelicot’s courage during the harrowing proceedings has helped transform her into an icon, even beyond France, for campaigners fighting against sexual violence.
The public prosecutors started on Monday by focusing on Dominique Pelicot, the man that 71-year-old Gisèle Pelicot was married to for nearly 50 years and who she believed was a loving, caring husband.
But he has admitted that for years he mixed sedatives into her food and drink so he could rape her and also invite dozens of strangers that he recruited online to also rape her.
Prosecutor Laure Chabaud asked the panel of judges for the maximum possible penalty for aggravated rape – 20 years – against the victim’s now ex-husband. Dominique Pelicot, who turns 72 this week, stared down at the floor, one hand on the handle of his cane, as the prosecutor spoke.
“Twenty years between the four walls of a prison,” she said. “It’s both a lot and not enough.” The court is expected to deliver its verdicts by December 20.
Gisèle Pelicot, who waived her right to anonymity, has pushed for graphic images that her husband filmed of the rapes to be presented in the courtroom, showing that she was unconscious and inert, audibly snoring.
“This woman was you, Madame Gisèle Pelicot, an ordinary woman,” said prosecutor Jean-François Mayet, turning to her, as he praised her courage and her desire to make shame change sides, so it falls on rapists and not their victims.
He noted that Monday also marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against women and said that France faces “a long path for our society to change its view of rape culture”.
