This Thursday, December 19, many media are also awaiting the verdict in the Mazan rape trial. Dominique Pelicot is accused of drugging, raping and having his wife, Gisèle Pelicot, raped by 51 men. Some 80 international media are accredited for the verdict. The media of many countries followed this affair, the issues of which resonated well beyond French borders.
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From our special correspondent in Avignon, Baptiste Coulon
The name of Gisèle Pelicot resonates until Chile : “ She taught the whole world a lesson. Gisèle Pelicot was an example of courage and dignity for women in Chile and around the world. Let the shame change sides ! “, expressed Karol Cariola, president of the Chamber of Deputies.
She cites several names of French female figures and ends with that of Gisèle Pelicot, who is no longer a name, but also a face known abroad.
Her portrait was, for example, held up a month ago during a demonstration in Madrid, during the International Day Against Violence Against Women.
A statement from Gisèle Pelicot was a turning point in the media coverage of the affair beyond French borders. From the start, it was his refusal of a trial behind closed doors, explains Raquel Billaécira, correspondent in France for the Spanish daily El Mundo : “ In the first days, we, the international press, came because it was an incredible trial. Without knowing and without really knowing the extent. Initially, we talked about Dominique Pelicotthe monster of Mazan. And afterward, we started talking more about Gisèle Pelicot than Dominique Pelicot. Gisèle’s personality gave more importance. She took a lot of power. »
Tipping point
Five foreign media outlets took an interest in the trial to cover the first days of the hearing. And 80 are accredited for the verdict this Thursday, December 19. Here, in Avignon, we meet journalists from New York Timesof Guardianor the BBC which is even preparing a documentary.
According to another Spanish journalist, the trial is much more followed in his country than the trials of the Bataclan or Charlie Hebdo attacks, for example. Perhaps also because in certain countries, this trial resonates with similar cases.
In Chile, it’s the Monsalve affair which shakes the country. A former deputy interior minister is accused of rape by one of his advisers. In Spain, the Mazan trial echoes that of Manada, the rape of a woman by five men in Pamplona in 2016. This trial also made it possible to include the notion of consent in the law, this is not not the case in France. But the Mazan trial has reignited the debate.
Also readMazan rape trial: maximum sentence of 20 years in prison required against Dominique Pelicot