Started on Monday morning, the prosecutor’s prosecution against the 51 accused in the Mazan rape trial concluded before the Vaucluse criminal court on Wednesday, November 27. The required sentences range from four to twenty years in prison.
The maximum sentence, 20 years, was requested against Dominique Pelicot, described as the “driver” of the decade of rapes against his wife, whom he drugged with anxiolytics to deliver them to strangers recruited on the Internet.
Seventeen years in prison were then requested against Jean-Pierre M., 63, who had reproduced the same process of chemical submission with his own wife and then raped her in the company of Pelicot, his mentor. For the following co-defendants, the requested sentences increased: 4 years against Joseph C., 69, tried solely for “sexual assault” of Mrs. Pelicot. Then at least 10 years of criminal prison against all the others, up to 16 years for three defendants with more dangerous profiles.
Beginning of the defense arguments.
These searches are significantly more severe than the overall average rape sentence in France, which was 11.1 years in 2022, according to the Ministry of Justice. Against the 45 co-defendants prosecuted for aggravated rape or attempted rape whose cases were discussed on Monday and Tuesday, the prosecution thus requested sentences of 12 to 17 years of criminal prison for 32 of them.
Once the requisitions are concluded, a new cycle will begin with the arguments of the defense, and Ms. Béatrice Zavarro will begin, on behalf of Dominique Pelicot. The only one who fully admitted the facts from the beginning. After her, arguments by lawyers for the 50 co-defendants will begin on Thursday morning.
