“Dominique Pelicot tells me that he was not hospitalized despite his state of health. Why?” Béatrice Zavarro, the lawyer for the main accused in the Mazan rape trial, speaks of “a failure to provide care for her client” and does not guarantee his presence at the hearing on Monday morning.
The health of Dominique Pelicot, the main accused of the Mazan rapes, has been at the center of the trial for a week. Finally suspended on Thursday, September 12, the hearing should resume this Monday, if Dominique Pelicot is present. The The 71-year-old retiree is due to speak for the first time at the Vaucluse criminal court in Avignon, where this unprecedented trial opened on September 2.“My client wishes to appear“, insists his lawyer Béatrice Zavarro, despite the absence of Dominique Pelicot from the dock,”but his health must allow it“.
The lawyer claims to have visited him in the isolation ward of the Pontet prison this Saturday, September 14, “I found him feverish and very weak“, specifies Béatrice Zavarro, “and he tells me that he has not been hospitalized since his 15-minute visit to the emergency room on September 9th.“. According to his lawyer, Dominique Pelicot did not undergo any medical examination,no blood tests, no check-ups since then, to find out what he was suffering from, it’s astonishing“. Béatrice Zavarro says she has “contacted the prison administration, the care units located in the Pontet prison and informed the president of the criminal court “of the state in which it is”find” her client. She denounces “a lack of support” and wonders about the reasons for this lack of care.
Asked about a possible maneuver by his client to avoid his obligation to appear, Maître Zavarro replied that it was not at all a question of “a cop-out“, and puts forward as proof the medical expertise submitted to President Arata on Wednesday, September 11,”diagnosing a superinfection, an objectively observed medical condition”. CHowever, she confirms that the presence of the main accused in the trial on Monday at 9 a.m. is uncertain, “Unless magic happens, it will depend on whether or not he can be extracted from his cell.”
In the event of absence from the hearing, “adjournment of the case” could be considered by the president of the court.