The banner flew all week from the top of the walls in front of the Avignon court: “I support Gisèle, not behind closed doors. » In recent days, the messages have multiplied on the walls of the city: “If it is behind closed doors, it is not legal” ; “Behind closed doors, exclusion of rape evidence” ; “Who benefits from closed doors? » The debate ended up parasitizing Mazán’s rape trial.
However, it was decided on the first day: during a rape trial, according to article 306 of the code of criminal procedure (CPP), “The closed session can only be ordered if the victim who is a civil party does not object”. Gisèle Pelicot objected. Public trial, therefore.
The videos archived by Dominique Pelicot, the basis of the accusation, had to be disseminated in cases in which the facts were contested by this or that co-accused. But the president of the Vaucluse criminal court, Roger Arata, judges these videos “indecent and shocking”After the first of them was broadcast on September 19, he finally ordered that they be seen behind closed doors, under the protection of article 309 of the CPP, which establishes that “the president has control of the audience and direction of the debates” AND “rejects everything that may tend to compromise his dignity”.
“A perception is subjective”
The decision was challenged by Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyers, who had requested a new debate on this essential point for them. Because, in this very particular rape trial, where the accused’s words cannot be compared with those of the victim, who does not remember the events, only the videos can provide the contradiction.
The debate took place on Friday, October 4. “The vast majority of those accused allege that they did not have the perception of having committed a rape”thinking that Gisèle Pelicot was sleeping, but she must have woken up or pretended to be asleep, explained Antoine Camus, one of the victim’s lawyers. “A perception is subjective, each person can have a different one when faced with the same scene. Here we must at least debate the credibility of the accused’s communicated perception of not having committed rape.the lawyer said again, remembering his client’s desire to “show all”.
“For Gisèle Pelicot, it is too late, the damage has already been donehis colleague Stéphane Babonneau, another lawyer for the victim, had testified before him.. The two hundred rapes he suffered while unconscious, the brutality of the debates that take place in this room, he will have to live with for the rest of his life. But if the publicity of the debates ensures that other women do not have to go through this, then this suffering that she inflicts on herself every day will have meaning. »
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