The woman whose husband drugged her so other men could rape her while she was unconscious testified Thursday at the trial in Avignon (south-east of France) against. 51 accusedwho wanted the process to take place in public so that everything would be known and no other woman would have to undergo chemical submission.
“For me the damage is done,” declared Gisèle Pélicot during her first intervention before the Vaucluse criminal court before adding that she had resigned to everything being done behind closed doors “in the name of all those women who may never be recognized as victims.”
According to journalists present in the courtroom on the fourth day of the trial, they hope that with their testimony “no woman will suffer this chemical submission.”
“I think I have said all I could say. It is not an easy exercise,” he declared in a statement to the press as he left the Palais de Justice in Avignon.
Added to this difficulty was the “pressure” from the defendants’ lawyers, who, according to him, wanted to set “traps” for him with their questions.
“I tried to answer as best I could. We must fight until the end“This process will last four months,” he concluded.
According to the instructors, Gisele Pelicotnow aged 71, was raped dozens of times between 2011 and 2020 by dozens of men with whom her husband, Dominique, had made contact so that, in a sort of voyeurism, they could have sexual relations with her, who was unaware of anything because she was under the effects of anxiolytics.
Everything was discovered in September 2020 when Dominique Pélicot was arrested by security guards at a supermarket in the town of Carpentras for filming the skirts of several women.
When the police went to analyze his computer hardware They discovered thousands of photos and videos in which his wife appeared unconscious and in which the abuse she had suffered could be seen.
This morning, the victim told the court that “the police saved my life by investigating Mr. P’s computer,” which is how she has referred to her husband, with whom she is in a relationship, for half a century. divorce proceedings.
“For 50 years I have always supported my husband” and during this period “we remained united,” she said before stressing that her world “collapsed” on November 2, 2020 when they were both summoned to the police station and shown the files that had been discovered.
She said that at first it was difficult for her to recognize herself, that she considered herself “inert”, “asleep” and that she realized how much they mistreated her: “Rape is not the right word, it is barbarity”.
“These are not sex scenes, these are rape scenes. There are two or three of them above me and I am inert,” the victim said before insisting that “they sacrificed me before the altar of vice.”
He also criticised the position of most of those appearing as accused, who claim not to have known he was drug and that there was no consent on his part.
“These men are defiling me, they are taking advantage of me. And not one of them says there is anything strange,” he added.
Gisèle Pélicot assured that I had never had a threesome before nor exchange of partners and claims to have been “stunned” when she discovered the sexual deviations of her husband who, “in 50 years of living together, never made obscene gestures”.
In total, in addition to Dominique Pélicot, 50 other men have been identified and are being tried for the crime of aggravated rape, punishable by 20 years in prison.
