AVIGNON, France (AP) – The trial of several men accused of raping an unconscious woman whose husband drugged her repeatedly over the course of nearly a decade has revealed the difficulties victims of sexual violence can face in France.
Dominique Pelicot, 71, and 50 co-defendants face up to 20 years in prison if convicted in a case that shocked the world and outraged French society.
Pelicot weeps while admitting in court that he is guilty of the charges against him, and said that all his defendants knew exactly what they were doing when he invited them to his house in Provence between 2011 and 2020 to have sex while he was unconscious and unaware. his wife, who divorced him after hearing what he had done to her.
Despite evidence including archived photos and videos taken by Pelicot about the alleged rape, some of the defense lawyers have questioned Gisèle Pelicot’s private life and motives, even questioning whether she was actually unconscious during some of the incidents. Although they should protect their clients with all their might, the tactics of the lawyers have angered the lawyers of those who have been sexually abused, who say the lawyers show that victim blaming is alive and well in France.
“This case is a case against our society,” 27-year-old Nathan Paris, who works at a youth shelter, said this week outside the court in Avignon. Paris, also a victim of sexual violence, has made several trips from Marseille since the trial began.
“The demographics of France have changed … and I feel that justice has not come then,” he said, vowing to keep coming back until the trial is over.
The co-defendants range in age from 20 to 70 and represent different French men: There is a firefighter, a journalist, a nurse, a prison guard and a construction worker. Some are retired, some are working and many have their own families. Another knew he had HIV when he raped Gisèle Pelicot six times and chose not to wear a condom, according to police. He did not get HIV, although he was diagnosed with other sexually transmitted diseases, the medical expert said.
Magali Lafourcade, judge and secretary general of the National Consultative Commission of Human Rights who is not involved in the trial, said that the fight against sexual violence in France has progressed slowly since the beginning of the #MeToo movement, which brought down some of the most famous French actors and film directors, among other notable ones. Women have been speaking out, but their voices are now being heard, she said.
“For a long time we have seen the rape and murder of women by men as something that affects the private sector – we thought that we should not interfere with people’s private lives,” said Lafourcade.
“There has been a clear shift, or even a revolution, in this view since #MeToo,” he added.
Civil society groups have worked hard in recent years to make judges, politicians and the media understand that sexual violence is not just a private matter, but also a public, political and financial one, said Lafourcade.
French President Emmanuel Macron has promised to prioritize gender equality and fight violence against women. But France’s public policies are still lacking, and more resources and effort should be put into prosecuting sex offenders, experts told the Associated Press.
Lawyers and commentators agree that in many ways, the Pelicot trial is a travesty because of the amount of highly incriminating evidence and the guilty pleas of the main accused.
Gisèle Pelicot also defies the common belief in French society that women who are raped may provoke their assailants out of desire to attract men or irrationally. She is a grandmother in her 70s who has taken drugs and passed out every time she was beaten, according to the police.
“Many victims don’t have that,” said Celine Piques, spokesperson for the women’s group Osez le Féminisme!, or Dare Feminism!, stressing that 90% of women who say they were raped don’t pursue charges because they don’t pursue them. I think they will get a chance. “Many times the words of the victims are not questioned and the shame falls on them rather than on the man who raped.”
Piques said he was shocked by questions about Gisèle Pelicot’s sex life, including “whether she was swinging or having a threesome, while the woman was drugged and unconscious.”
Gisèle Pelicot showed remarkable calmness and disbelief during the trial, even through all the horrific and revealing descriptions of the torture she suffered. But he became angry on Wednesday when defense lawyers questioned him about graphic images taken of him that were shown in court for the first time. He agreed to show them because he said he hoped they would serve as “irrefutable evidence.”
“I understand why rape victims don’t press charges,” Pelicot told the five jurors after a lawyer asked if there were any unusual sexual “habits” she was hiding.
“I will not answer this question, which I see as insulting,” he answered, his voice breaking.
He told the court that the first two weeks of the trial were painful, he said, “Since I came to this court, I felt disappointed. I’m treated like an alcoholic, a bride. … I heard it all.”
Pelicot has become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France, and has been seen as a hero by many victims for relinquishing his anonymity, allowing the trial to be public and appearing openly in front of the media. He has been attending every day of the trial, sitting in a house full of men accused of raping him.
But despite the disturbing details that emerged during the trial, it did not stop others from downplaying the abuse, as the mayor of the small community where the Pelicots lived, Mazan, apologized on Thursday for suggesting in a BBC interview that things could have happened. worse because “no children were involved” and “no one died.”
Such expulsions are common in the French justice system, Lafourcade said.
“We have a big problem with the way the law enforcers treat people who are sexually abused, which is very painful for the victims and has a negative impact,” she said. “It discourages people from suing.”
Given how few crimes are reported and how rarely those are convicted, only a small percentage of attackers go to prison, Lafourcade said.
“And to reduce crime, it’s not the severity of the sentence that matters.” “It is a certainty that you will be caught.”
Pelicot’s supporters believe she is making a difference by bravely confronting the men accused of raping her and that wider change will emerge.
“Before, we wouldn’t ask the lawyer and his defense,” said Paris, a youth shelter worker. “But today society is changing, people are watching what is happening and consider the suffering of others.”