the hearings will not be held behind closed doors, at the request of the victim

The prosecution had requested that the proceedings be held in camera, pointing out that videos of the events would “necessarily be viewed” and that “not only would the publicity of the proceedings be dangerous but [elle] would also undermine the dignity of people.”

“Shame must change sides”asserted one of the victim’s lawyers. In accordance with Gisèle Pélicot’s wishes, the Vaucluse criminal court refused on Monday, September 2, to hold the trial in camera of Dominique Pélicot, a retiree tried in Avignon for drugging his wife and recruiting dozens of strangers on the internet to rape her, over a period of ten years.

“The debates will be public”ruled the president of the criminal court of Vaucluse, composed of five professional magistrates, after a short suspension of the session. Even if there will be “extremely difficult times”Gisèle Pélicot, 72 years old, “believes she has no need to hide”that she “has nothing to be ashamed of.” A position shared by the couple’s three children, all civil parties.

The public prosecutor had defended his request for a closed hearing by pointing out that videos of the events, filmed by the husband, would be “necessarily viewed” and that “Not only would the publicity of the debates be dangerous, but [elle] would also undermine the dignity of people”. “It must not be a spectacle”had also requested some lawyers of the co-accused, numbering 50.

This trial, extremely rare due to the total number of accused, 51, will continue until December 20. During the investigation, the husband admitted that he administered powerful anxiolytics to his wife, without her knowledge, and then had her raped by men contacted on the internet. No fewer than 92 incidents were recorded, the first of which date back to 2011, and which then continued until the fall of 2020.

“He is ashamed of what he did, it is unforgivable”his lawyer pleaded to the press, believing that we are in this case “in a form of addiction” : “He admits what he did, there has not been an ounce of protest since the beginning.”. Firefighter, craftsman, nurse, prison guard or journalist; single, married and fathers or divorced: the majority of the accused came once, ten times several times, up to six times for some. But they do not suffer from any notable psychological pathology, the experts insisted.

Gisele Pelicot “will experience for the first time, on a delayed basis, the rapes she suffered for ten years”because she doesn’t have any “no memory”insisted his second lawyer, to AFP. Dominique Pélicot, who participated in the rapes and filmed them, without demanding any financial compensation, is also implicated in two other cases by the “cold cases” unit of Nanterre, in the Paris region: a murder with rape in Paris in 1991, which he denies, and an attempted rape in Seine-et-Marne in 1999, which he admits to, after being caught by his DNA.