rape

The court in Mazan, where the case of Dominique Pelicot, the 70-year-old accused of drugging and raping his wife Giselle Pelicot or offering her drugged to other men to rape her, has been heard since September, decided today to allow journalists and the public to be present at the viewing of the videos and photographs used during the course of the trial.

The court revised the initial decision of the president of the court, Roger Arata, accepting the request of the victim’s advocates, who describe today’s decision as a “victory”.

The screening of this visual material will be followed by an announcement that will allow sensitive people and minors to leave the courtroom, the president of the court clarified, adding that this screening will not be “systematic” and will only be done when necessary to present the truth at the request of one of the two sides.

Since the start of the trial on September 2, members of the court, litigants and journalists were present in the courtroom. The public watched the proceedings via a relay in an adjacent room.

On September 20, during the third week of the trial in Avignon, the president of the court banned the viewing of the visual material to journalists and the public explaining that the images are “obscene and shocking”. From then until today, only members of the court and litigants have been allowed to see the videos and photos.

Five days later, Giselle Pelico’s lawyers asked her again lifting the ban in the name of the battle she fights against sexual violence.

Giselle Peliko was a victim of rape for a decade by her husband and dozens of men he met through the Internet. He drugged his wife with powerful anxiolytics and raped her or handed her over to have sex. She herself was against the conduct of the trial behind closed doors from the beginning. The court had also ruled in favor of an open trial until the September 20 ruling.

“For Giselle Peliko, the damage is done,” one of her lawyers, Stefan Bandono, said today. “But if these same conversations, through their publicity, can prevent other women from going through the same thing, then she will find meaning in her suffering.”

In contrast, many advocates for Pelikos’ 50 co-defendants vehemently opposed the screening of the footage in the presence of journalists and the public.

“Justice doesn’t need this to work, why should there be these emetic projections? We had one view in the first case. Isn’t one film enough?” said Olivier Landhelm, not being heard.

For the second week in a row, Dominique Pelicot was unable, for health reasons, to testify today at the criminal court of Vaucluse – in Avignon, France.

Pelicot is accused by his ex-wife Gisele, who has now become the embodiment of victims of sexual violence in France, of drugging and raping her for a decade along with dozens of strangers he recruited online. In addition to her ex-husband, 50 other men, aged between 26 and 74, are being prosecuted for rape and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

“We will adjourn for today and resume tomorrow morning,” said the president of the criminal court, Roger Arata, who ordered a new medical report from “a panel of experts.”

The accused underwent a CT scan on Sunday and is suffering from “kidney stone, kidney infection and prostate problem”according to Arata.

For their part, Gisele’s lawyers called the situation “unusual”, noting that all measures should have been taken so that the accused would be in a condition to testify.

Meanwhile tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Paris and other French cities yesterday to show their support for Gisele, who thanked protesters on Monday on the sidelines of the trial: “Thanks to all of you, I have the strength to fight this fight to the end“, he declared, dedicating him “to all people, women and men, all over the world, who are victims of sexual violence.”