The video of Dominique Pelicot and Jacques C. abusing a completely inert Gisèle Pelicot, released the day before, is still in people’s minds when Attorney General Jean-François Mayet stands up to speak, Friday, September 20, at the opening of the hearing. “Without these videos, this trial would not have happened, because Ms. Pelicot does not remember anything, and even if she had remembered a fragment of what she was victim of, her word would have been impugned. Therefore, I hope that for all the accused, the court will see the most representative images of what could have happened, both for those who are impugning and those who are admitting.” Discomfort at the dock.
Initially, only videos were available about those who questioned the facts. But since those who acknowledge the facts often deny, at the same time, having intended to commit them, and since some claim that their only fault was having been late in realising the abnormality of the situation, the Advocate General believes that the broadcast of the videos will help to resolve certain doubts.
Stéphane Babonneau, Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, supports the petition: “Some defendants explain: ‘I didn’t feel well during the incident, but I didn’t feel like I had committed rape, I only realised it afterwards.’ They must be able to explain how, at the time of carrying out these acts, they did not think they were committing rape.”
“These images are indecent and shocking”
Béatrice Zavarro, Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer, sees no problem with this. Her colleagues defending the fifty co-accused do not share this opinion and several of them stand up to cry in outrage. “The Attorney General’s request is not for his court, one gets offended. It is for all those outside who seek to drink the blood that may flow from this justice! Other : “Justice, in order to be approved, does not need a nauseating pornocriminal presentation that borders on a certain form of voyeurism. The dignity is that of the civil party, but also that of each accused. »
After a quarter of an hour of reflection, Roger Arata, president of the Vaucluse criminal court, decided: “The broadcasts will not be systematic, they will be made at the request of one or the other of the parties, with the sole aim of revealing the truth. Considering that these images are indecent and scandalous, they will be broadcast in the exclusive presence of the parties and the court, and I will have the courtroom evacuated.” He repeats: “These images are indecent and shocking.”
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