The combativeness of the victim and ex-wife of the main accused, who refused to appear in camera and testified publicly on Thursday, contributes to the impact of this hearing, where 50 other men are being tried for having raped her while she was drugged and unconscious.
Her face is now known throughout the world. With her brown bob and sunglasses, Gisèle Pélicot, whose surname was still reduced to the initial “P.” a few days earlier, has been propelled into the spotlight since the opening of the Mazan rape trial on Monday, September 2 in Avignon (Vaucluse). Her husband and 50 co-defendants are appearing for having abused her for ten years while she was drugged and unconscious. Since the case broke in 2020, this wife had remained in the shadows generally reserved for victims of sexual violence. It was her daughter, Caroline Darian, who carried the torch of media coverage through a book and interviews on the phenomenon of chemical submission.
This woman, who will soon be 72, took over on the first day of the hearing, refusing the closed hearing to which she was entitled. “Shame must change sides”hammered one of his lawyers, Stéphane Babonneau. A courage praised by the author Lola Lafon in Releasewhich compares “Gisele” to the Olympic athletes that France admired all summer: “We will have celebrated and celebrated courage, strength, the ability to surpass one’s limits. Today, a woman is preparing to accomplish a feat.” According to the author of Capsizethis victim, by exposing his ordeal to the face of the world, “confirms the end of a myth which has all the trappings of a collective denial: the myth of the monster.”
“The Mazan trial is notable for the number of defendants, but it is time to stop invoking the ‘special’ nature of this case, by calling it an ‘out of the ordinary’ news story. This case is a magnifying glass of all marital rape, this crime so little heard, so little recognized.”
Lola Lafonin “Liberation”
In the packed courtroom of the Avignon criminal court, Gisèle Pélicot finds herself facing her ex-husband, Dominique Pélicot, from whom she recently divorced, and the dozens of men on trial for raping her while she was unconscious. Firefighter, craftsman, nurse, prison guard and journalist… The majority of the accused came once, ten several times and, for some, up to six times. Only 14 of them admitted the facts alleged against them. And three apologized to the victim. “Take responsibility for your actions at least once in your life”she told them on Thursday.
Thanks to the publicity of the debates, Gisèle Pélicot’s powerful words resonated in the room and far beyond. Taken up by journalists from the 36 accredited media outlets, they made headlines in the international press. “I was sacrificed on the altar of vice”headlines the British daily The Guardian. “He had no mercy, no mercy at all”reports the Indian daily Hindustan Timeswhile India regularly faces high-profile gang rape cases. “They treated me like a rag doll, a garbage bag”the Spanish daily newspaper maintains The World. THE New York Times quotes for his part this sentence pronounced to the address of all the other potential victims of chemical submission: “When other women wake up with no memory, they may remember Ms. Pélicot’s testimony.”
“I held out for these four months of trial. It is not for myself that I am testifying, but for all these women who are subjected to chemical submission.”
Gisele Pelicotbefore the criminal court of Avignon
It was during this first testimony that this mother and grandmother insisted that she be called by her name. “I want to be called Gisèle Pélicot, in solidarity with my children”she said after detailing those years of “torture” without blinking, while all the details of his private life were revealed in court.
In turn, his three children told AFP on Thursday that they now wished their family name to be published by the press. “More than ever, they are proud of their mother”argued their lawyers, Stéphane Babonneau and Antoine Camus. As for the grandchildren, “It is a source of pride for them to be the grandchildren of Gisèle Pelicot. For them, it is important that it becomes a source of pride in the playground to bear this name, which today was that of courage incarnate and strength in life”added Antoine Camus.
Although Gisèle Pélicot wishes to take back her maiden name after the proceedings, history will probably remember this surname as that of the victim and not that of the accused. In any case, it is this combative approach – she compared herself to a “boxer” – and public which seems to have given this historic and international turn to the trial from the first week. “Dear Gisèle Pélicot, you entered our lives as if you were at the Avignon court, through the front door. You walk straight, head held high.”writes Hélène Devynck in a column published by The World. Like Lola Lafon, the journalist, who is one of the plaintiffs in the PPDA case, points out the “banality of profiles” accused, “a difficult reality to accept” for the opinion.
“It’s not just you, Gisèle, that they’ve treated like a thing. They’re telling us all how insignificant we are. Your strength makes us our own. Thank you for this immense gift.”
Helen Devynckin “The World”
In the courtroom, feminist activists thank Gisèle Pélicot for not having requested a closed hearing, as can be seen in images from the program “Quotidien”. MP Sandrine Josso, who accuses Senator Joël Guerriau of drugging her with a view to sexually assaulting or raping her, also made the trip. She confided to journalists that she had been “overwhelmed to tears” by the testimony of Gisèle Pélicot. Remotely, the influencer Nabilla, ex-reality TV star, had launched a support kitty entitled “New life for Gisèle Pélicot”, in order to “to contribute to the legal costs and help him through this terrible ordeal”. Opened on Thursday evening, it was closed on Friday at the victim’s request.
Through the voice of their lawyers, Gisèle Pélicot and her family “thank all the people who have sent massive messages of support from all over the world since the start of the trial.” But the main interested party, here again, seems almost to forget herself for the greater good of the trial, which she wishes “preserve the dignity and serenity of the debates”. She calls for “the greatest moderation on social networks”. At the helm, it was his daughter Caroline who took over on Friday morning and told the story “cataclysm” suffered by his family. The epilogue of a week that has already made the “Mazan rape trial” enter the judicial annals.