Prosecutors seek maximum sentence in mass rape case in France – NBC New York

A massive rape trial in France entered a new phase on Monday, with prosecutors beginning to draw up the verdicts and sentences they want for dozens of men accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot while she was drugged and rendered unconscious by her husband.

After hearings that stretched over nearly three months, the trial of 51 suspects in the southern city of Avignon is starting to run out. Pelicot’s courage during the harrowing procedure has made her an icon, even outside France, for campaigners fighting against sexual violence.

On Monday, the Public Prosecution Service first focused on Dominique Pelicot, the man to whom 71-year-old Gisèle Pelicot was married for almost 50 years, believing him to be 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 he recruited online to rape her too.

Prosecutor Laure Chabaud asked the jury for the highest possible sentence for aggravated rape – twenty years – against the now ex-husband of Gisèle Pelicot. Dominique Pelicot, who turns 72 this week, stared at the ground, 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 rule before December 20.

Gisèle Pelicot has waived her right not to be publicly identified and has pushed for graphic footage filmed by her husband of the rapes to be presented in court, showing that she was unconscious, inert and snoring audibly.

“This woman was you, Madame Gisèle Pelicot, an ordinary woman,” said prosecutor Jean-François Mayet, turning to her, praising her courage on Monday and her desire to let shame change sides so that the rapists and not their victims. .

Noting that Monday also marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, he said France “has a long road ahead for our society to change its view of rape culture.”

Gisèle Pelicot sat quietly, sometimes staring at the ceiling, as prosecutors detailed how Dominique Pelicot collected and carefully cataloged a library of 20,000 photos and videos of the abuse that spanned nearly a decade. The evidence he kept on hard drives, memory sticks and phones led investigators to dozens of the men he recruited, although about two dozen others have not been identified.

All but one suspect is on trial for aggravated rape.

‘When did they ask about Madame Pelicot’s consent? Not before. Not during,” Mayet said.

Pelicot previously tearfully admitted in court that he is guilty of the charges against him. He said all his co-defendants understood exactly what they were doing when he invited them to his home in Provence between 2011 and 2020 to have sex with his unconscious and unknowing wife, who divorced him after learning what he had done to her. He had no trouble finding dozens of men to participate.

In previous weeks of testimony, many suspects told the court that they could not imagine Dominique Pelicot drugging his wife, and that they were told she was a willing participant acting out a kinky fantasy.

Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, said prosecutors’ request for the highest possible sentence against him was justified “given the seriousness of the facts and the seriousness of the acts of which he is accused.”

“It is no surprise that I ask for twenty years, and I personally expected that. But it is still a shocking and severe punishment for a man who will be 72 in a few days,” she said.

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Associated Press video journalist Marine Lesprit contributed to this report.