At the trial of Dominique Pelicot and his 50 co-accused, the defense triggers the anger of the victim and his family

The hearing was about to end on Tuesday, September 10, the seventh day of the Mazan rape trial, before the Vaucluse departmental criminal court. But the tension suddenly rose a notch at the end of the hearing of Stéphan Gal, one of the investigation directors of the Avignon judicial police who oversaw the investigations into Dominique Pelicot and all the co-accused. The discussions focused on the use of the term “rape” to describe their actions.

“You said it was definitely a rape scene.”pointed out Guillaume De Palma, defense lawyer, regarding the videos of two of the accused he represents. “Wasn’t this certainty a little hasty?” he asked the policeman. Stéphan Gall’s response: “To prepare for this trial, I watched the videos again, calmly. It’s always the same feeling: there is no consent, the acts were perpetrated on an unconscious person.” To support his argument, the investigator cites the example of score-settling cases. “In this case, the suspect is being prosecuted for murder. There will be a trial, but the term ‘murder’ is used,” even before the case is judged “and it’s not shocking at all”he believes.

The lawyer agrees, while adding: “There is rape and rape and, swithout the intention to commit it, there is no rape”. The tone rises, the civil parties show signs of annoyance. The debate is still tense about intimate (and consensual) photos of Gisèle Pelicot that were not included in the file, argues the defense. Implying that by letting her husband take her photo, she gave tacit consent. The lawyers for the civil parties, Stéphane Babonneau and Antoine Camus, try to speak, but the president refuses to let them speak. Caroline Darian, the daughter of Dominique and Gisèle Pelicot then rushes out, visibly very upset. “It’s a shame!” she says.

At the end of the hearing, facing journalists, Guillaume De Palma explained his controversial statement.“From the moment that there is indeed a guilty intention, from the moment that we can provide proof that the person who committed the acts was aware of committing acts of rape, there is rape. If not, there is no rape.”he says. That’s the whole line of defense summed up there.

The accused, through their lawyers, claim to have gone to the couple’s home in Mazan, convinced, they say, that Gisèle Pelicot was pretending to be asleep because she was taking part in a “libertine scenario”wanted by the couple. “We considered that, because there were videos, because there were statements from Mr. Pelicot,” who assured investigators that all the men filmed knew perfectly well that his wife was sedated “the case was heard”regrets Guillaume De Palma.

For his part, Antoine Camus reiterated that“There was no need to compromise on the rights of the defense” and that the “the presumption of innocence must be exercised to the end”. But he especially deplored “a form of gratuity in the violence inflicted” to his client by words “unbearable” who were employed by the opposing party. The hearing will continue on Wednesday with the return of Dominique Pelicot after two days of absence for medical reasons.