“FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE”
Beyond Dominique Pelicot, who has admitted to all of the charges, prosecutors must also decide on punishments for the other defendants: men aged 26 to 74 and from all walks of life.
“This trial is shaking up our society in our relationship with each other, in the most intimate relationships between human beings,” Jean-Francois Mayet, the other prosecutor, told the court.
The trial is making French society work “to understand our needs, our emotions, our desires and above all to take into account those of others”, he said.
What is at stake, he added, “is not a conviction or an acquittal” but “to fundamentally change the relations between men and women”.
Many accused argued in court that they believed Dominique Pelicot’s claim they were participating in a libertine fantasy, in which his then-wife had consented to sexual contact and was only pretending to be asleep.
Among them, 33 have also claimed they were not in their right minds when they abused or raped Gisele Pelicot – a defence not backed up by any of the psychological reports compiled by court-appointed experts.
“In 2024, we can no longer say ‘since she said nothing, she agreed’,” said Chabaud. “The absence of consent could not be ignored by the defendants.”
Sentencing requests are slated to take three full days in the court’s agenda, with prosecutors estimating an average of 15 minutes per defendant.
Most, including Dominique Pelicot, are charged with aggravated rape.
“The facts, and the personality of each accused, were taken into account even in our sentencing demands,” Mayet added.
