A 71-year-old Frenchman, Dominique Pélicot, a former employee of Electricité de France (EDF), is on trial in Avignon for allegedly drugging his wife and orchestrating a series of rapes involving over 70 men between 2011 and 2020. This high-profile case has sent shockwaves through France, as the victim, Gisèle Pélicot, faces her attackers for the first time.
Chilling Allegations
Dominique Pélicot stands accused of secretly drugging his wife with a mixture of anti-anxiety medication and sleeping tablets, often crushed into her meals or wine, rendering her unconscious for non-consensual sexual assaults by men he allegedly recruited online. Pélicot allegedly sought out men from internet chatrooms where members fantasized about performing sexual acts on non-consenting partners. The 50 men on trial, ranging in age from 26 to 73, include civil servants, firefighters, nurses, a journalist, a former police officer, a prison guard, and other professionals.
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Pélicot’s actions came to light following his arrest in November 2020, when he was caught filming women and girls in dressing rooms with a camera hidden inside a pen. During a search of his home, police found a USB drive labeled “abuses,” containing thousands of videos and images documenting the assaults on his wife.
Horrific Revelation
The trial will see Gisèle Pélicot, now in her early 70s, confront the men accused of assaulting her for nearly a decade. Until her husband’s arrest, she had no knowledge of the abuse. She had believed that her increasing memory lapses, unexplained bruises, and fatigue were symptoms of an undiagnosed illness. Her husband accompanied her to multiple medical consultations, attributing her symptoms to tiredness from caring for their grandchildren. At one point, Gisèle woke up with a new haircut, only to learn from her hairdresser that she had been there the previous day—a visit she had no memory of.
The defendants have presented various defenses, with some claiming they believed they were participating in consensual activities with a willing couple. However, experts have testified that Gisèle was “almost in a state of coma,” raising questions about the defendants’ awareness of her incapacitated state.
Public Trial Despite Privacy Concerns
Despite arguments from the prosecution and defense to hold the trial behind closed doors, Gisèle Pélicot insisted on complete transparency. She expressed a desire for the court hearings to be public, believing that exposing the truth was necessary for justice. Her lawyers, Stéphane Babonneau and Antoine Camus, emphasized that their client wanted the world to know what happened to her, and to see justice served openly.
The presiding judge, Roger Arata, agreed to public hearings, marking a significant victory for Gisèle. Her lawyers acknowledge the difficulty of reliving the trauma but state that her courage in seeking justice should not be hidden from public view.
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The trial, expected to last four months, will not only examine the involvement of the accused men but also shed light on the dark corners of internet platforms where such crimes are allegedly facilitated. Dominique Pélicot has also been accused of other serious crimes, including the rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in Paris in 1991, and an attempted rape in 1999.