Several lawyers representing the defendants in the Mazan rape case will file complaints this week following the disclosure of personal information followed by threats against their clients, they announced on Monday 9 September at the opening of the hearing in Avignon.
«Personal data of the accused, their identity, surname, first name, profession, address and, sometimes, photographs taken inside the court itself were disseminated on social media, in defiance of the most basic rules of our law, the foundation of our democracy»“This is a very important step,” said lawyer Isabelle Crépin-Dehaene, speaking to reporters on behalf of all her colleagues gathered behind her.
“Starting this week, the lawyers we are presenting will present fifteen complaints, in the hands of the territorially competent prosecutors, others will follow in the coming weeks”warned. According to her, it will be “We systematically pursued those who disseminated personal information or made comments with racial connotations towards defendants with foreign surnames”.
“Children of the accused were attacked inside their school, wives and relatives of the accused were insulted, malicious phone calls were received by the accused, with attempts to break into their homes”Ms Crépin-Dehaene listed, before adding: “The seriousness of these events leads us, defense attorneys, to have to refer the criminal proceedings to the Public Prosecutor’s Office to prevent any new form of violence, or even, what is to be feared, an attack on the physical integrity of the accused and their relatives.”. “Justice is exercised through our laws, in the calm of time and not in the frenzy of the moment”he concluded.
Landmark trial on the issue of chemical submission
These statements had also been made moments earlier in front of the Vaucluse criminal court, where Dominique Pelicot is on trial until December, accused of having drugged his wife with anxiolytics, before raping her and having her raped by dozens of strangers recruited on the Internet from July 2011 to October 2020, about fifty of whom have been identified and are being tried together with him. The highly publicised case has become emblematic of the issue of the presentation of chemical substances.
“Everything will be done to ensure the calm of the debates”“This calmness in the debates was necessary,” the president of the court, Roger Arata, responded to the defense lawyers on Monday. “to carry them out”During the first week of the hearing, Arata had already recalled that no images were allowed to be captured in the courtroom or in the broadcast room, where a large audience was gathered on Monday.
The Mazan rape trial, which began with hearings from the victims, now moves on to the 51 defendants. Dominique Pelicot, the “driver” of sexual violence committed against his wife for ten years, will be heard in the bar on Monday. Other members of the Pelicot family will also give their testimonies on Monday to describe the septuagenarian.
