Friday, September 6 marked the end of the first week of Dominique Pelicot’s trial in Avignon. Accused of drugging his wife, having her raped by dozens of men and filming the attacks, he is being tried with fifty other men at the Vaucluse criminal court. His ex-wife Gisèle Pelicot, who remembered nothing before the facts were revealed four years ago, is now asserting herself as the spokesperson for the fight against chemical submission and its serious consequences.
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With our correspondent in Avignon, Tanita Fallet
The facade is solid, but the interior is a field of ruins. Standing, head held high, Gisèle Pelicot addressed the Court Thursday, September 5, while behind her, a room was filled with the accused, some hiding their faces under masks or glasses. Despite this disturbing proximity, Gisèle Pelicot spent nearly two hours describing the reality of the chemical submission : absences, amnesia, the feeling of going mad and rapes. Her story, marked by pain and resilience, echoes that of her daughter, who willingly speaks of a ” cataclysm “.
For shame to change sides
When Gisèle Pelicot is not speaking, she sits on the civil parties’ bench, surrounded by her children. Opposite her, in the defendants’ box, her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, remains impassive. The investigating expert and the witnesses file past her.
Despite the defense’s attempts to find inconsistencies, the story told by Gisèle Pelicot is considered plausible. She chose to make this trial public so that the shame changes sides and for the women who, like her, may never be recognized as victims.
Also readChemical submission and rape: in France, the extraordinary trial of Dominique Pélicot begins