Dominique Pelicot is not appealing but a new trial will take place, with several co-defendants contesting the verdict. Dominique Pelicot is sentenced to twenty years in prison for having drugged his wife, Gisèle, at the time of the events, in order to rape her and deliver her to dozens of strangers in Mazan in the Vaucluse department, in the south of France.
4 mins
“ Dominique Pelicot decided not to appeal the verdict rendered by the Vaucluse criminal court » on December 19, explained his lawyer, Maître Béatrice Zavarro, Monday December 30 to Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Franceinfo. The defense has ten days to appeal, until December 30.
Also readFrance: look back at the highlights of the Mazan rape trial
That ” would force Gisèle to a new ordeal, to new confrontations, which Dominique Pelicot refuses “, she added, specifying that for her client, aged 72, “ Madame Pelicot is not and has never been his adversary “. Dominique Pelicot believes that “ it’s time to put an end to this legally » with this chapter, according to Me Béatrice Zavarro.
In their judgment, consulted by AFP, the judges emphasized that Gisèle Pelicot was “ victim of having been drugged, disregarding his health, […] and victim of having been sexually abused, defiled and humiliated for nearly ten years to fuel a fantasy, that of Dominique Pelicot, […] who took pleasure in raping her and seeing her being abused by other men, which he assumes “.
Dominique Pelicot thus accepts the sentence of twenty years’ imprisonment (the maximum provided for by law) accompanied by a two-thirds security measure (approximately 14 years). The latter is convicted of aggravated rape of his wife and that of a co-defendant, also under chemical submission, but also, among other things, for having recorded images of a sexual nature of his daughter Caroline and his two daughters-in-law.
His lawyer estimated that rather than “ to run an unnecessary risk on appeal “, the facts could be reclassified and cause him to incur a heavier sanction, it would be better eventually ” try to obtain a reduced sentence from the courts “. Despite this decision by the “conductor” of this decade of rapes, a new trial will take place, this time before an assize court composed of a popular jury because several of the 50 co-defendants have filed an appeal.
Gisèle Pelicot « don’t be afraid »
Became a feminist icon, notably for having refused to allow this extraordinary trial to be held behind closed doors, so that the “ shame changes sides ” and no longer weighs on the shoulders of rape victims, Gisèle Pelicot, also 72 years old, has ” not afraid » of a new trial, declared last week one of his lawyers, Maître Stéphane Babonneau, on France Inter.
On December 19, in Avignon, the criminal court, made up of five professional magistrates, found guilty the 51 men aged 27 to 74 tried, mostly for aggravated rape of Gisèle Pelicot, between 2011 and 2020. After nearly four month of a trial symbolizing the fight against sexual violence against women, they handed down sentences ranging from 20 years’ imprisonment to Dominique Pelicot to three years including two suspended sentences for a retiree tried for sexual assault.
Dominique Pelicot was certainly able to influence his co-defendants, the court recognized, but they, to whom he delivered his wife, stunned with anxiolytics and unconscious, could all “ understand the situation » and understand that it was rape.
As of Friday, December 27, 17 defendants had already filed appeals, two lawyers told AFP, and others could still do so this Monday. The lawyers of around fifteen other defendants have already clarified to AFP that their clients have given up contesting the verdict. Dominique Pelicot « was surprised to see these calls, especially (by) individuals who, at the bar, had apologized to Gisèle Pelicot,” declared Maître Béatrice Zavarro: “ It seems to me that a declaration of appeal contradicts these words. »
The general prosecutor’s office has five additional days to file incidental appeals or a general appeal for the 51 accused. If he there were 25 appeals, I wonder whether the debate would not be more coherent with all of the accused at the bar », remarked the lawyer.
Dominique Pelicot, however, is not done with justice. Indicted by the “cold cases” unit, he could be tried for an attempted rape in 1999 in Seine-et-Marne, but above all a rape followed by murder in 1991 in Paris, that of a young real estate agent aged 23 years.
Also readMazan: a societal turning point?