The videos recorded by Dominique Pelicot of his wife, Gisèle, when, unconscious because of the drugs he administered to her, she was raped by dozens of men that the husband invited to his home, were examined at the Avignon criminal court in presence of the public and the press. The examination, which took place this Friday at noon, is a historic decision by the court and the victim’s lawyers called it a “victory”.
The president of the court, Roger Arata, reversed the decision he had taken on the 20th to exclude the public and the press from the room during the broadcast of these videos and authorized their presence, as requested by Gisèle Pelicot, with whom I had wished. transparency in the process of everything that was done to him “shame changes sides”.
The videos are very harsh. Actually, There were people who had to leave the room. However, the presence of journalists in the room made it possible to verify the reactions of the accused to the videos. Only one, Thierry Postat, was able to watch Gisèle; and the others bowed their heads.
To this other, Adrien Longeron, and after seeing Gisèle raped, He has no choice but to recognize that he did not obtain any type of consent on the part of the victim. Thierry P., who said he did not go to Pelicot’s house to rape Gisèle, tried to defend himself by accusing Dominique Pelicot: he claims that everything was done at the husband’s request.
Furthermore, Redouane El Farihu, another of the accused, also declared having “scared” and that he was “terrified” by “Mr. Pelicot”. Simone Mekenese, a neighbor of the Pélicots and whom Gisèle knew, could not even speak after seeing herself in the videos.
These are terrible images that journalists and the publicor that I saw again after an intense debate. It has been compared to terrorist processes such as the Bataclan attack in Paris, because, despite its harshness, are necessary. “They will help change mentalities», underline several feminist associations.
A decision which, as expected, for the lawyers of the the accused proves nothing. The accused’s lawyer, Jean Tirano, argued that his client could not be recognized in the images. Along the same lines, Nadia El Bouroumi, controversial lawyer for two of the 51 accused who questioned the victim, spoke out. She believes that this decision is due to an alleged “media dictatorship and claims the right to ask questions without being accused of attacking the private prosecution.
Victim’s lawyer defends viewing
The president of the court, according to the local press, announced his turn after a debate this Friday morning during the hearing on this issue and specified that given the nature of the images, each time it will be done, it will be done an announcement so that those who wish can leave the room.
During this debate, Antoine Camus, Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, who became a private prosecutor, justified the relevance of the presence of the public and the press to prevent the defense from presenting to everyone what the images show. For Camus, the videos serve to “destroy” the thesis defended by certain defendants.accidental rape, “What they are showing,” he stressed, “is an opportunistic violation.”
The private prosecutor’s lawyer stressed that if the public and the press are not present, there is a risk that “to save face”the lawyers of those in the dock when they are allowed back into the courtroom misinterpret the images to say that things are not clear.
Many of those sitting in the dock admit to having had sexual relations with the victim – with the images it would be impossible to deny it -, but they maintain that they believed they had implicit consent, through her husband and that they did not know that he was using chemical submission to circumvent their wishes.
