Fabián S.: “I was manipulated. » Juan K.: “Yes, there was manipulation. » Jacques C.: “They deceived me, that’s for sure. » Hugo M.: “I trusted too much. » “We fell into a trap”Husamettin D. gets angry, who states without hesitation, on Wednesday, September 25, on the stand: “Yes, I am a victim. » These are, in fact, Dominique Pelicot’s co-defendants who spoke thus before the criminal court of Vaucluse, in Avignon.
Since September 19, nine of them, of the 49 who appear for rape, attempted rape or sexual assault of Gisèle Pelicot (the fiftieth is a fugitive), have been heard. They did what they could to convince their judges that things were more complex than one might believe at first glance, and that their presence before them was due to an unfortunate spiral that had befallen them.
The Pelicot trial has reactivated the debate on the introduction of the notion of consent into the legal definition of rape. To listen to this first series of defendants, we would have to especially consider the introduction into the Penal Code of the crime of “involuntary rape,” since this is essentially what they have alleged in recent days, maintaining confusion between what comprises the intention, premeditation and awareness of having committed a violation.
“The certainty of talking as a couple”
With the images that Dominique Pelicot recorded and archived of the abuse inflicted on his ex-wife, previously drugged by him, it is impossible to deny the materiality of the event: penetration of an unconscious woman. All deny, however, the slightest guilty intention. “I recognize the violation but not the intention”several defendants said. “A recognition of the facts that are not”according to Stéphane Babonneau, one of Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyers.
“I never intended to do it, but never having had the consent of Mme Pelicot, I can only point out the facts.said Lionel R.
– According to you, it is possible to rape oneself unintentionally?M asked.my Babonneau.
– Yes. That day, when I got into my car, I never said to myself “I’m going to go rape this lady.”
– But you didn’t immediately secure his consent, you had an erection. Was it involuntary rape?
– It was rape, my fault.
– Was it voluntary or involuntary rape?
– It was not intentional. »
Rape without intention to commit it. The line of defense is simple: everyone claims not to know, before setting foot in Mazan (Vaucluse), that Gisèle Pelicot was drugged without her knowledge. It was a fact, they say, that she agreed to participate in what was, in her eyes, a “sexual game”TO “couple delirium”. “The announcement, stressed Paul-Roger Gontard, defense lawyer, This It was not: “Perverted husband looks for a partner to gang rape with benzodiazepines.” »
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