#mazan rape case

[thebusylilbee]

what's even fucking crazier about the Mazan serial rapes case is that everybody is already so shocked by the basic facts of it (Dominique Pélicot drugs his wife for 10 years and gets her raped while unconscious by 73 men or more) that the medias literally often forget to mention that DNA testing suggest that the husband is actually a whole ass killer who killed and raped at least one woman in the 90's before getting married to Gisèle Pélicot

[uramitashi]

dominique pelicot frequently upskirted young women. he tried to rape a 19 years old girl when he was 28 and is now charged with rape and murder of Sophie Narme. he was training another man to make his wife be sexually abused by tons of men - him included (he raped her a lot of times). he also took naked photos of his daughters-in-law and of his own daughter. all this without counting the fact that he carefully crafted a rape ring around his drugged, 70 years old wife for 10 years, with 70 different men. he gaslit her and you know what? the only thing he said is that " he did nothing wrong, he drugged her because he did not want her to suffer". he does not see the rape ring he created as immoral.

theres AT LEAST 90 men IN THE ZONE GISELE PELICOT LIVES who would rape a 70 years old woman if they could. those men are ordinary. you can not recognize them as outwardly bad. they are nurses, truck drivers, firefighters, fathers, boyfriends, husbands.

it blows my mind everytime i think of it. i cant wrap my head around it. dominque pelicot could be my father. could be my brother. my uncle can be part of a rape ring association and i could never know about it. how many of the men i pass on the street would rape someone the age of my mother, if they could? it makes me vomit. there is no rehabilitation. why isnt it the most important topic on the news? is it because they can't find ways to blame the woman?

[crazycatlady6]

Gisèlle Pélicot

9 years and no one said a thing

9 years and she remained sick, unable to know why

9 years and 20,000 media files later

9 years and 73 men later

9 years and hundreds of thousands of people online later

9 years and a hundred rapes later

9 years and now a court case later

9 years and she still smiled at her neighbour

9 years and her neighbour still greeted her back

[thebusylilbee]

"Chère Gisèle Pelicot, vous êtes entrée dans nos vies comme au tribunal d’Avignon, par la grande porte. [...] Le jour de l’ouverture du procès de vos violeurs a aussi été celui de l’officialisation de votre divorce. [Une meute] vous attend dans la salle d’audience : celle des 50 hommes qui sont jugés pour viol en réunion. Il y en aurait des dizaines d’autres qu’on n’a pas pu identifier. Vous faites face. Rien ne vous préparait à être dans cette salle d’audience. Un des accusés est arrivé en retard parce que, dit-il, il devait accompagner son fils à l’école pour la rentrée. Je me suis demandé qui avait accompagné vos petits-enfants, qui faisaient, eux aussi, leur rentrée scolaire. Je sais que vous avez pensé à eux à ce moment précis.

Réalité difficile à accepter

Vous les voyez tous pour la première fois sauf ce voisin que vous croisiez parfois dans la vie d’avant, celle qui ne reviendra jamais, celle de la maison du Vaucluse et de l’ignorance préservée. Vous les regardez. Ils regardent leurs pieds. Ils n’avaient jamais vu vos yeux, Jean, Didier, Jean-Luc, Romain, Redouan, Cédric, Grégory, Karim, Jean-Marc, Philippe, Quentin, Nicolas, Vincent, Patrick, Paul et les autres… On ploie sous la longueur de la liste et la banalité des profils. Les trois quarts d’entre eux ne reconnaissent pas les viols, comme tous ceux qui font les gros titres de l’actualité, les PPDA, Nicolas Hulot, Salim Berrada, Gérard Miller, Olivier Duhamel, Benoît Jacquot, Jacques Doillon, Gérard Depardieu…

Leurs arguments sont toujours les mêmes. Ils font tourner l’infect disque rayé du mensonge complaisant. Ils n’ont pas compris ce qu’ils faisaient. Ils sont sûrs d’être, eux aussi, des types bien, pas des monstres, même quand on leur montre les vidéos des crimes. Ils sont pompier, journaliste, étudiant, chauffeur routier, gardien de prison, infirmier, retraité, conseiller municipal, nos amis, nos amants, nos pères, nos frères. Une réalité difficile à accepter.

Un seul s’est adressé à vous pour vous présenter des excuses. Leur défense est un échantillon chimiquement pur de la violence patriarcale et des masques derrière lesquels elle s’abrite pour prospérer. « Le patriarcat est dans la maison ce que le fascisme est dans le monde », écrivait Virginia Woolf dans Trois guinées (1938).

Certains évoquent le poncif éculé de la pulsion, d’autres la frustration sexuelle due à l’absence prolongée d’une compagne officielle. Il y a celui qui trouve « bizarre » d’avoir fait ça. On trouve aussi des traces de « libertinage incompris ». Il y a celui qui ose l’ahurissant « viol involontaire ».

« Consentement par délégation »

Puisque vous étiez comateuse, il est difficile de prétendre que vous étiez partante. Difficile, mais quelques-uns tentent quand même le « j’ai pu croire qu’elle faisait semblant de dormir ». Les plus audacieux essayent le « consentement par délégation » ; le mari était d’accord, « il fait ce qu’il veut avec sa femme ». Une femme est soumise à son compagnon. L’ordre immémorial de la hiérarchie masculine est respecté.

Ce qui est certain, c’est qu’ils ont tous bandé à l’idée de pénétrer un corps inerte. Le viol et l’ordinaire de la sexualité semblent avoir beaucoup de points communs dans leur esprit. Ils ont bien le droit. Ils ont le pouvoir de le faire. Ils n’allaient pas passer à côté d’un viol gratuit près de chez eux. Ils ont été biberonnés à la haine des femmes, au mépris qui s’excite de l’impuissance de l’autre. Le sexisme féroce transpire de leur discours. La pornographie violente dont certains collectionnaient les images les plus répugnantes y est sans doute pour quelque chose. La domination absolue les a fait jouir. Ils ne voient pas le problème. Même au tribunal. Même devant vous.

Ils font ce que font la plupart des hommes accusés : ils se victimisent et rajoutent une couche de mépris sur celle qu’ils ont déjà humiliée. Ils sont tombés dans un traquenard. On les a piégés. Vous êtes restée là, à les écouter sans ciller, droite sur le ring. Vous décrivez désormais votre vie comme un combat de boxe. Le combat est déloyal. L’adversaire a les armes du terrorisme patriarcal. Que vous soyez à terre ou debout, cassée ou le poing levé, votre droiture fait craqueler la carapace d’impunité qui les a longtemps protégés.

Ce n’est pas seulement vous, Gisèle, qu’ils ont traitée comme une chose. Ils nous disent, à toutes, notre insignifiance. Votre force nous rend la nôtre. Merci pour ce cadeau immense.

Hélène Devynck, journaliste et autrice d’Impunité, (Seuil, 2022)"

[coochiequeens]

Men say shit like women should get married to have a man who will protect them then do shit like this.

Woman, 72, 'drugged by her husband so 50 men could rape her while unconscious' appears in court after bravely waiving right to anonymity as he goes on trial along with men 'filmed having sex with her'

Gisele P opted for a public trial and waived her right to anonymity, lawyers said

Police say she suffered 92 rapes by 72 men, 51 of whom have been identified

Those identified will also go on trial alongside the main suspect, Dominique P

By David Averre 2 September 2024

French woman whose husband is on trial for drugging her and allowing dozens of strangers to rape her while unconscious appeared in court for the first time after waiving her right to anonymity. 

Gisele P., 72, was seen standing in the courtroom supported by her three children to witness the opening day of the trial of Dominique P., 71, which began this morning in Avignon. 

He is accused of orchestrating a sick rape ring, using an online forum to invite a horde of men to his home in Mazan near Avignon before filming them assaulting his wife over nine years between 2011 and 2020.

Police counted a total of 92 rapes committed by 72 men, 51 of whom were identified and are being tried alongside the main suspect, a former employee at France's power utility company EDF.

Presiding judge Roger Arata announced that all the hearings would be public, granting Gisele her wish for 'complete publicity until the end' of the court case, according to her lawyer, Stephane Babonneau. 

Gisele could have opted for a trial behind closed doors given the nature of her husband's alleged crimes, but 'that's what her attackers would have wanted', another lawyer named Antoine Camus said. 

Still, the trial will be 'a horrible ordeal' for Gisele.

'For the first time, she will have to live through the rapes that she endured over 10 years,' Camus said, adding that his client had 'no recollection' of the abuse which she only discovered in 2020.

Gisele P. - a French woman whose husband is on trial for drugging her and allowing dozens of strangers to rape her while unconscious - is seen arriving in court today

Dominique P. is accused of orchestrating the sick rape ring, filming strangers he met online attacking his wife while she was drugged between 2011 and 2020 Ladies let's share this face everytime men spew crap about men protecting women

The President of the Vaucluse Assises Court Roger Arata speaks at the courthouse during the trial of Dominique P. in the south of France, in Avignon, on September 2, 2024

The couple met in 1971 and married two years later before having three kids together. 

Gisele previously said her husband had asked her to try swinging - a request she refused.

But she also described him as a 'great guy' with a 'normal sexuality'. 

Their eldest son said nothing in his father's behaviour suggested any deviance and that 'he had always fulfilled his role as a father', while their daughter spoke fondly of her father's presence in her life as a young girl. 

The heinous campaign of sexual abuse masterminded by Dominique P. is said to have begun in 2011 when the couple was living near Paris, and continued after they moved to Mazan two years later.

Police began to investigate the defendant Dominique P. in September 2020 when he was caught by a security guard secretly filming under the skirts of three women in a shopping centre.

Police said they found hundreds of pictures and videos of his wife on his computer, visibly unconscious and mostly in the foetal position.

The images are alleged to show dozens of rapes in the couple's home in Mazan, a village of 6,000 people roughly 20 miles from Avignon in Provence.

Investigators also found chats on a site called coco.fr, since shut down by police, in which he recruited strangers to come to their home and have intercourse with his wife.

Dominique P. later admitted to investigators that he gave his wife powerful tranquilisers, especially Temesta, an anxiety-reducing drug.

Demonstrators hold placards and smoke bombs during a protest outside the courthouse during the trial of a man accused of drugging his wife for nearly ten years and inviting strangers to rape her at their home in Mazan, a small town in the south of France, in Avignon, on September 2, 2024

Beatrice Zavarro, lawyer for the accused Dominique P, waits at the courthouse during the trial of her client accused of drugging his wife for nearly ten years and inviting strangers to rape her at their home in Mazan, a small town in the south of France, in Avignon, on September 2, 2024

The husband took part in the rapes, filmed them and encouraged the other men using degrading language, according to prosecutors.

In previous hearings, he explained how he took a range of precautions to avoid his wife or family from discovering the dark deeds.

French outlet Le Point reported how Dominique P. imposed strict rules on each of the men who he invited to rape his wife: no perfume or tobacco, cut and clean nails, hands first run under hot water so as not to risk waking the victim. 

The attackers would park a few minutes from the couple's home and undress in the kitchen. No money changed hands.

The accused rapists included a forklift driver, a fire brigade officer, a company boss and a journalist.

Some were single, others married or divorced, and some were family men. Most participated just once, but some took part up to six times. 

Their defence has been that they simply helped a libertine couple live out its fantasies, but Dominique P. told investigators that all were aware that his wife had been drugged without her knowledge.

An expert said her state 'was closer to a coma than to sleep'.

Her husband told prosecutors that only three men left the house quickly after arriving, while all others proceeded to have intercourse with his wife.

Dominique P., who said he was raped by a male nurse when he was nine, is ready to face 'his family and his wife', his lawyer Beatrice Zavarro said.

'He is ashamed of what he did, it is unforgivable,' Zavarro told reporters on Monday morning, adding that the case was 'in a form of addiction'.

'My client's line of conduct is that he recognises what he did and there has not been an ounce of protest since the beginning,' she said in comments carried by French press.

But this trial may not be his last. 

The defendant has also been charged with a 1991 murder and rape, which he denies, and an attempted rape in 1999, to which he admitted after DNA testing.

Experts said the man does not appear to be mentally ill, but reportedly concluded that had a need to feel 'all-powerful' over the female body in assessments included in court documents. 

The shocking trial is due to last until December 20

[thatsonemorbidcorvid]

Full text below cut, trigger warning for the whole thing.

A French man has been accused of drugging his wife and the recording at least 51 men rape her while she slept over the period of 10 years.

Dominique P, a pensioner who had been married for over 50 years, allegedly mixed the anti-anxiety drug Lorazepam into his wife's evening meal, La Monde reported.

He would then invite his "guests" into their house in Mazan to rape his sleeping wife between 2011 and 2020.

A total of 51 men between the ages of 26-73 have been identified, arrested and charged with rape following an inquiry launched in 2020 in the southern city of Avignon.

The suspect reportedly found the men on “a son insu” - an active French internet forum where members discuss performing sexual acts on women without their consent and often drugged.

The exchanges on the web forum were erased after being linked to a criminal investigation into paedophile, racist or anti-Semitic content and the sale of illicit substances.

Law enforcement officials learned about the videos during a preliminary investigation three years ago when the suspect was caught trying to film woman in a changing room with a hidden camera.

The videos were found on the man's computer, where they were meticulously archived in a file called "Abuses". The titles of the hundreds of videos indicate a date, a first name and the nature of the actions, according to the French newspaper.

Investigators have identified 92 cases of sexual assault of the woman by 83 suspects, but are yet to identify all the men.

Tobacco and perfume were banned by the suspect in order to avoid strong smells that could waken his wife. The men were asked to wash their hands in warm water to avoid sudden temperature change and were made to undress in the kitchen to avoid leaving clothes in the bedroom.

The "guests" had to park near a school and walk in the dark to the house to avoid raising neighbours' suspicion.

Some claimed they had no idea his wife has not consented to the sexual acts, while one person denied it was rape, saying: “It’s his wife, he does what he likes with her.”

According to prosecutors in Avignon, the suspect insisted that "none of the men who came to his house gave up going through with sexual acts on his wife given her state".

"He never used violence or threats against anyone so that rapes would be committed. Each individual was in possession of his free will to stop these acts and leave,” the prosecutors said.

When the woman was asked to talk about her husband in November 2020 during the initial investigation, she described him as a "great guy" and "kind and caring". She said he tried to get to agree to partner-swapping but she refused as “she didn’t like to be touched without having feelings (for someone)”.

When the police informed her of the tapes, she reportedly began pieceing together the past. The woman said she had flashbacks and that the drugging could have been the reason behind her frequent fatigue and “absent-mindedness”.

Medical examinations found she had been infected with four sexually transmitted diseases.

If the investigating magistrate follows the prosecutor’s indictment, a "historic trial" is expected to take place early next year with 52 defendants in the same box.

The woman has filed for a divorce.

[head-post]

How Pélicot case exposed rape culture in France

50 people stood trial, accused of raping the motionless body of Gisèle Pélicot while her husband recorded their actions for his video library. The unprecedented mass rape case revealed the actual image of a rapist, according to AP News.

A trial in France shows how pornography, sex chat rooms and men’s disdain for consent are fuelling rape culture. French society was disturbed not by the fact that her husband Dominique Pélicot orchestrated the mass rape, but that he had no difficulty finding dozens of men who agreed to engage in unlawful sexual acts.

One of the rapists, a married plumber with three children and five grandchildren, said he was not particularly bothered that the woman was not moving when he visited the Pélicot family home in the town of Mazan in 2019. He stated that it reminded him of adult videos, featuring women “pretending to be asleep and don’t react,” he watched.

Many of the other defendants told the court that they could not have imagined Dominique Pélicot drugging his wife and that they were told she was a willing participant acting out a perverted fantasy. However, the husband denied the accusation, claiming that his co-defendants was aware of the situation.

Pornography flourishing

Céline Piques, a spokesperson of the feminist group Osez le Féminisme!, or Dare Feminism! stated that many of the men under investigation were perverted by pornography. Although some websites started fighting search terms such as “unconscious,” hundreds of such videos could still be found online, Piques stressed.

Last year, French authorities registered 114,000 victims of sexual violence, including more than 25,000 reported rapes. However, experts argue that most rape cases go unreported due to a lack of tangible evidence. Many women do not press charges, with most dropping cases before investigations start.

The Pélicot case was unique in the French judicial system. After a shop security guard caught Dominique Pélicot making videos of unsuspecting women’s skirts in 2020, police searched his home and found thousands of pornographic photos and videos. The main defendant later revealed that he had recorded and stored the sexual encounters of each of his guests and organised them neatly in separate files.

France thrilled world community

Gisèle Pélicot, who is in her early 70s, did not know she had been raped. She chose to stay in the courtroom while the videos were shown. Unable to watch, she closed her eyes, stared at the floor or buried her face in her hands.

Sexual assault experts say the unwillingness or inability of the accused to confess to rape reveals the taboos and stereotypes that persist in French society. Magali Lafourcade, a judge and general secretary of the National Consultative Commission of Human Rights, did not attend the trial but said popular culture had given people a wrong idea of what rapists looked like and how they acted.

It’s the idea of a hooded man with a knife whom you don’t know and is waiting for you in a place that is not a private place.

Two-thirds of rapes occurred in private homes, with the vast majority of victims knowing their rapists, Lafourcade emphasised. She drew attention to the frightening reality that the Pélicot case “makes us realise that in fact rapists could be anyone.”

For once, they’re not monsters – they’re not serial killers on the margin of society. They are men who resemble those we love. In this sense, there is something revolutionary.

Read more HERE

[medusas-daughter]

"Blink Twice" coming out around the same time as the french Mazan rape case is such a weird coincidence anyway if the world has been a lot lately if you feel triggered left and right you're not alone I love you take care of yourself

[alxastrx]

Quick question for non French people : do your medias talk about the Mazan's rapes case that's currently going on ?

[siddysthings]

French rape trial mayor in hiding after sickening five-word statement about horror case - World News - Mirror Online

[aanews69]

Mass rape trial in France - The Chilling Case That Shocked France's Quiet Village Delve into the chilling case that shocked France's quiet village and left its idyllic facade shattered. Immerse yourself in the harrowing story of Jaelle Pelico, a brave survivor who broke her silence after a decade of unimaginable abuse. Unravel the grim reality as we explore how her husband, Dominique Pelico, orchestrated a horrifying mass rape trial, exposing the dark underbelly of a seemingly peaceful community. Discover the unsettling truth behind societal norms that allowed such atrocities to persist in the charming village of Mazan. Join us as we navigate the complex layers of this case, from the manipulative tactics of the perpetrator to the stark realities of rape culture and its insidious grip on society. Engage with this story by sharing your thoughts and insights in the comments below. Your voice is essential in challenging these norms and advocating for change. This is more than a story—it's a call to action for us all. Let's ensure such horrors are never repeated. #RapeCultureAwareness #RapeCulture #SystemicAbuseAnalysis #SexualAssault #VictimAdvocacyDiscussion #SystemicAbuseAnalysis #RapeCulture #VictimAdvocacyDiscussion #SexualAssault #Abuse CHAPTERS: 00:00 - The Mazan Case 01:29 - Victim and Perpetrator Analysis 03:34 - Understanding Rape Culture 05:08 - Navigating the Legal System 07:45 - Future Directions and Solutions Subscribe👇: https://sub.dnpl.us/AANEWS/ - Want some Great Buys check out our List: https://bestbuys.vista.page/ #aanews, #aanews69, #news

[thebusylilbee]

I think the expression "patriarcal terrorism" is a very good one for the unfortunately way too common cases of serial rapes and mass rapes done by men

[someone-will-remember-us]

So many aspects of the trial of Dominique Pelicot and 50 other defendants in France over the past month have been so extraordinary to experience that they feel somehow surreal, or upside-down. In 2020, Gisèle Pelicot, a 67-year-old retiree living in the small French town of Mazan, was told by police that her husband of almost 50 years, Dominique, had been arrested after trying to film up women’s skirts in a shopping center. At first, Gisèle was cautiously understanding. If Dominique was willing to go into therapy, she thought, they could stay together. But then the police confronted her with something infinitely more shocking. On his hard drive, a folder titled “abuse” contained some 20,000 photographs and videos of Gisèle being raped and assaulted by strange men—72 in total—as well as her husband. For about a decade, they told her, he had been drugging her food and drink, and inviting men he met on the internet to abuse her. In court last month, Dominique Pelicot validated the charges against him. “I am a rapist, like the others in this room,” he said. Fourteen of the other men on trial have pleaded guilty to the charges against them, but the majority claim innocence, arguing that they thought they were simply participating in a “libertine” game between husband and wife.

Before his arrest, with regard to his own security, Dominique was meticulous to a fault. The men who came to his home had to warm their hands on a radiator before entering his bedroom. They had to undress in the kitchen. They weren’t to smell of cigarette smoke or aftershave, lest they leave any discernible trace of themselves behind. If Gisèle stirred while an assault was ongoing, Dominique ordered the assailant to leave the room. He kept detailed records, saving videos and photographs of each man in file folders categorized by their first name—“part pleasure,” he later explained in court, “but also, part insurance.” With regard to his wife’s safety, however, he was strikingly nonchalant. He didn’t require that any of the men accused of raping his wife use condoms. Some are accused of choking her while Dominique watched; others, of assaulting her with objects. One man, who was HIV-positive, allegedly raped Gisèle on six separate occasions, telling Dominique that he couldn’t maintain an erection if he wore protection. When Gisèle began to complain of strange physical symptoms—substantial weight loss, hair loss, huge gaps in her memory, difficulty moving her arm—Dominique drove her to doctor appointments, but didn’t stop drugging her, or facilitating her abuse. When she mentioned that she’d been having unexplained gynecological issues, he accused her of cheating on him. Of her husband, she said in court: “In 50 years, I never imagined for a second that he could rape.”

The mass trial of Dominique and 50 other men who could be identified (more than 20 alleged assailants remain at large) began in September, exposing a case that’s both wholly unprecedented and dully familiar. The fact that we’re aware of it at all is because of Gisèle, who gave up her right to privacy so that the allegations of what happened to her could be made public. What she believed, her lawyer said, was that “shame must change sides”—for the men accused of raping and assaulting her to be the ones whose characters were stained, whose reputations were maligned. In the process, she’s become a feminist icon in France, in whose name women’s groups have rallied, seeking to raise awareness about sex crimes involving drugging and pointing out that women are most likely to be raped by someone they know. Every day, before she enters the courtroom, Gisèle is applauded by crowds who have gathered outside to support her.

In court, though, Gisèle’s cross-examination has mostly been by the book, which is to say that lawyers for the defense—more than 40 in number—have done everything they can to impugn her character. “There’s rape and there’s rape,” one defense attorney told her, implying, as many of the defendants have argued, that Gisèle and her husband were swingers participating in an elaborate sex game. “No, there are no different types of rape,” she replied. Although the judges in the trial denied the prosecution’s request that videos documenting her abuse be shown in court, agreeing with defense lawyers that doing so would compromise the dignityof the defendants, they did allow those lawyers to show some 27 pictures that revealed Gisèle’s genitalia, and her face with her eyes apparently open. (A medical expert has testified that, given the medication Dominique was secretly administering, Gisèle was so heavily sedated, she was closer to being in a coma than being asleep.) Lawyers asked her whether she was an alcoholic, and whether she had “a secret inclination for exhibitionism.” In response, Gisèle stated that every day since the beginning of the trial, she’d been intentionally humiliated, and that she understood why most rape victims don’t press charges. Although she appears composed on the surface, she has said that, internally, she is “a field of ruins.” Even so, a few weeks into the trial, one defense lawyer, Nadia El Bouroumi, posted an Instagram Reel of herself in her car, miming to the Wham song “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.” (She later deleted the video and posted a statement saying she was profoundly sorry if her meaning had been misinterpreted.)

This kind of ritualized cruelty toward victims is standard in legal systems worldwide, and yet the Pelicot case has stripped away all the usual obfuscations and muddying of details to make certain things clear. There are just so many accused rapists in this case, each one caught on camera. There are so many men who are alleged to have assaulted a drugged grandmother of seven that before they go into the courtroom, they have to form a queue, shuffling one by one in hunched, sullen fashion, as though waiting in a breadline, or for a bus. The men range in age from their 20s to their 70s. One was a firefighter. One was a nurse. One was a journalist. One was a prison guard, one a civil servant. Many were apparently happily married with children. One, a 22-year-old, missed the birth of his daughter the night he went to allegedly rape Gisèle.

Not all men rape women, the adage goes. But the Pelicot case has upended that argument: not all men, but any man, of any age, any profession, any marital status. Living in a small town of 6,000 people, Dominique was able to find 72 men nearby who were allegedly willing—as per his invitation on a forum titled “Without Their Knowledge”—to “abuse my sleeping, drugged wife.” The site he used, Coco.fr, was shut down earlier this year, but it has been implicated in 23,000 separate crimes that are under investigation by more than 70 public prosecutors’ offices across France. Not all men but, still, so many men. One defendant in the Pelicot case, a 72-year-old former firefighter and truck driver who was described by friends and family as “kind,” “attentive,” and “open to others,” told the courtroom that he had “a deep respect for women,” and that if his ex-wife were present, she’d tell them, “He loves the woman in all her diversity, all her complexity.” Nevertheless, he is accused of raping an unconscious woman, Gisèle’s lawyer countered; the man has denied the accusation. Another defendant explained that he realized what he was doing was wrong when Gisèle moved while he was assaulting her, and Dominique quickly ushered him out of the room. “When I crossed the garden, I thought about reporting the incident,” he said in court. “Then life resumed its course; the next day, I went to work very early, and that was that.”

The men accused of raping and assaulting Gisèle, it’s worth remembering, are so numerous that they were arrested in five separate waves, spanning almost a year. In court every week, a new group of defendants has been presented to the judges for consideration, so that their psychological profiles and the testimony of their partners and ex-partners can be taken into account. One defendant, a private nurse, was apparently extremely empathetic to his patients, whom he considered family. He and his wife tried for many years to have children, undergoing multiple rounds of IVF and eventually hoping to adopt. Another, a mason, was reportedly a wonderful father whose friends testified that he was respectful and quiet, never even making dirty jokes at parties. Some of the men have been described as egocentric, aggressive, and routinely unfaithful. One was incarcerated for acts of sexual violence against three other women at the time of his arrest. One has asked about the possibility of restorative justice. Some confessed to having been abused as children. One, although not charged with assaulting Gisèle, is accused of being mentored by Dominique in the drugging and rape of his own wife, who has stayed with him despite learning that both her husband and Dominique allegedly raped her while she was unconscious on several occasions. One defendant was described by his fiancée, with whom he shares a 15-month-old child conceived after his arrest, as having a “heart of gold.”

Following along with the trial, what’s been hard to process is the disconnect between how the defendants are being treated and what Gisèle has endured. The men’s psychological profiles are inherently humanizing—it’s difficult not to feel pity for those whose children have died, or who were reportedly abused themselves, or who apparently fought for their children with special needs to receive the educational assistance they needed. And yet these men also allegedly participated in the abuse and rape of a passed-out woman: an immobile, voiceless, dehumanized body served up to them by her husband, whose actions implied—and were accepted by the men—as ownership. “If a man came to have intercourse with me, he still should have asked for my consent,” Gisèle said in court. But that acquiescence itself would have been in opposition to what so many men apparently wanted: ultimate sexual domination over someone who couldn’t consent, orchestrated by the one man whom she loved and trusted the most.

(archive)

[a-room-of-my-own]

Woman tells trial of husband who invited men to rape her: ‘I was sacrificed on altar of vice’

Gisèle Pélicot says French police saved her life when they investigated husband, who drugged her and enlisted men to rape her

A French woman whose husband has admitted drugging her and inviting more than 80 men to rape her over the course of a decade has said she “was sacrificed on the altar of vice” and treated “like a rag doll”.

Gisèle Pélicot, 72, said “police saved my life” when they investigated her husband, Dominique Pélicot’s, computer in November 2020, after a security guard caught him filming up the skirts of women in a supermarket near their home in a village in southern France.

Police said they found a file labelled “abuses” on a USB drive connected to his computer that contained 20,000 images and films of his wife being raped almost 100 times.

Recounting the moment in November 2020 when police first showed her images of a decade of sexual abuse orchestrated by her husband, Pélicot, who had been drugged to the point of unconsciousness, told the court: “My world fell apart. For me, everything was falling apart. Everything I had built up over 50 years.”

She said she had barely recognised herself in the images, saying she was motionless. “I was sacrificed on the altar of vice,” she said. “They regarded me like a rag doll, like a garbage bag.

“When you see that woman drugged, mistreated, a dead person on a bed – of course the body is not cold, it’s warm, but it’s as if I’m dead.” She told the court rape was not a strong enough word, it was torture.

She told a panel of five judges that she had only found the courage to watch the footage in May this year. “Frankly, these are scenes of horror for me,” she said.

Referred to by her first name in court, Gisèle Pélicot has waived her right to anonymity in order for the trial to be held in public, with the support of her three adult children. She said she was testifying “for all women” who had been assaulted while drugged and to ensure “no woman suffers this”.

Her husband this week answered “yes” in court when asked if he was guilty of the drugging and attacks. His lawyer said that after his arrest he “always declared himself guilty”, saying: “I put her to sleep, I offered her, and I filmed.”

Police have said that between 2011 and 2020, Dominique Pélicot crushed sleeping tablets and anti-anxiety medication and mixed them into his wife’s evening meal or in her wine at their home in Mazan, near Carpentras in Provence. He then enlisted men to rape and sexually abuse her, contacting them via an online chatroom, where members discussed preferences for non-consenting partners.

The accused men recruited by her husband were instructed to avoid smelling of any kind of fragrance or cigarette smoke to avoid alerting his wife and to leave if she moved so much as an arm, investigators said. Fifty men are on trial for allegedly taking part in the rape and abuse.

Speaking in a calm and clear voice, Gisèle Pélicot told the court how she and her husband had married when they were 21, had three children and seven grandchildren, and had been very close. “We weren’t rich but we were happy. Even our friends said we were the ideal couple,” she said.

She told the court that without knowing she was being regularly drugged at night, she had begun to have difficulties remembering things and concentrating and even feared taking the train to see her adult children in case she missed her stop. She said she had lost weight and at one point had difficulty controlling her arm.

Worried she was suffering from the start of Alzheimer’s disease, she discussed the subject with her husband. She said he had supported her and booked an appointment with a specialist, who said it was not Alzheimer’s.

Asked by the judge if she had experienced gynaecological issues, Gisèle Pélicot said yes. She said medical tests during the police investigation showed she had been infected with several sexually transmitted diseases.

Demonstrators hold placards during a during the trial of a man accused of drugging his wife for nearly ten years and inviting strangers to rape her at their home.

She said in the hours after being told by police what had happened to her she felt like dying. She described how she had to explain the trauma to her adult children, saying her daughter’s scream “was etched into my memory”.

She left the house with two suitcases, “all that was left for me of 50 years of life together”. Since then, “I no longer have an identity … I don’t know if I’ll ever rebuild myself,” she said.

Gisèle Pélicot, who has been supported in court by her children, has been praised by lawyers for her strength and calm at the trial. She said she appeared solid but was “in ruins” and did not know how her body had withstood the abuse and now the trial.

The 50 men on trial with her husband include a local councillor, nurses, a journalist, a former police officer, a prison guard, soldier, firefighter and civil servant, many of whom lived around Mazan, a town of about 6,000 inhabitants. The men were aged between 26 and 73 at the time of their arrests.

Several of the accused have denied the charges, telling police they did not know Gisèle Pélicot was not a willing partner, accusing her husband of tricking them. Detectives were unable to identify and trace more than 30 other men who were recorded.

Gisele Pélicot said she had recognised only one of her alleged rapists, a man who had come to discuss cycling with her husband at their home. “I saw him now and then in the bakery; I would say hello. I never thought he’d come and rape me,” she said.

Gisèle Pélicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus, said she did not want a trial behind closed doors because “that’s what her attackers would have wanted”.

The trial in Avignon is expected to last four months. Dominique Pélicot, 71, and the 50 other defendants face 20 years in prison if convicted of aggravated rape.

[senriii]

51 men on trial in France for the rape of a drugged woman arranged by her husband

A husband who allegedly drugged his wife and invited more than 80 strangers to rape her at their home for almost a decade went on trial on Monday in a case that has shocked France.

Fifty men accused of taking part in the abuse of the woman are also on trial at the court in Avignon. More than a dozen protesters dressed all in black demonstrated outside the courthouse as the trial opened.

Police say Dominique Pélicot crushed sleeping tablets and anti-anxiety medication and mixed it into his wife Gisèle’s evening meal or in her wine at their home in Mazan, near Carpentras in Provence. The father of three recruited men to rape and sexually abuse her from an online chatroom, where members fantasised about performing sexual acts on non-consenting partners.

The presiding judge, Roger Arata, announced that all hearings would be public, granting Gisèle Pélicot her wish for “complete publicity until the end” of the court case, according to one of her lawyers, Stéphane Babonneau.

The trial would nonetheless be “a horrible ordeal” for her, said another of her lawyers, Antoine Camus.

“For the first time, she will have to live through the rapes that she endured over 10 years,” he told Agence France-Presse, adding that his client had “no recollection” of the abuse that she discovered only in 2020.

Gisèle Pélicot, who arrived at the court supported by her three children, did not want a trial behind closed doors because “that’s what her attackers would have wanted”, Camus said.

The accused men recruited by her husband were instructed to avoid smelling of any kind of fragrance or cigarette smoke to avoid alerting his wife and to leave if she moved so much as an arm, investigators said.

Dominique Pélicot was arrested on 2 November 2020, after a security guard caught him filming up the skirts of women in the local supermarket. Police found a file labelled “abuses” on a USB drive connected to his computer that contained 20,000 images and films of his wife being raped almost 100 times.

Since his arrest he “always declared himself guilty”, his lawyer has said, adding that he had said: “I put her to sleep, I offered her, and I filmed.”

Health records reportedly show he obtained 450 sleeping pills in one year alone.

The 50 men on trial with him include a local councillor, nurses, a journalist, a former police officer, a prison guard, soldier, firefighter and civil servant, many of whom lived around Mazan, a town of about 6,000 inhabitants. The men were aged between 26 and 73 at the time of their arrests.

Several of the accused have denied the charges, telling police they had no idea Gisèle Pélicot, who married Dominique Pélicot in 1973, was not a willing partner and accused him of tricking them. Detectives were unable to identify and trace more than 30 other men who were recorded.

Investigators said she was devastated to learn of the abuse, saying she had no recollection whatsoever of being raped. She had been drugged “almost to a state of coma”, investigators added.

“One morning she woke in a panic with a new haircut without understanding how this was possible. She went to her hairdresser, who told her she had been in the previous day,” Babonneau said.

He said his client, now divorced, had believed she had an illness nobody could explain and consulted several doctors, always accompanied by her husband, who blamed her symptoms on tiredness after looking after their grandchildren. Her three children and other relatives suspected she had Alzheimer’s disease.

The public prosecutor and lawyers for the defendants had asked for the trial to take place behind closed doors for reasons of “decency” and to protect all parties.

“The trial involves acts of extreme violence repeated over a period of ten years of so. Photographs will be circulated, videos will necessarily be viewed and it appears that publicity would be dangerous for public decency and would undermine the dignity of the individuals, both victims and defendants,” the prosecutor argued.

But Gisèle Pélicot’s lawyers objected. “She wants people to know what happened to her and believes that she has no reason to hide. No one can imagine that my client will find any satisfaction in exposing what she has suffered. She wants this hearing to be open so that justice can be done in public,” Babonneau said.

“Whether one likes it or not, this trial goes beyond the limits of this courtroom. And going behind closed doors also means asking my client to be locked in a place with those who attacked her.”

After deliberating, the five professional judges hearing the case ruled it should be held in public.

Dominique Pélicot is also accused of the rape and murder of a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris in 1991. Sophie Narme was drugged, raped and stabbed in the chest.

Another estate agent, 19, was attacked in similar circumstances but escaped after fighting back. Police have said DNA extracted from blood at the scene matched his profile.

The trial in Avignon is expected to last four months. Dominique Pélicot, 71, and the 50 other defendants face 20 years in prison if convicted of aggravated rape.

[wamuzimedia]

According to the accusation, a husband "dragged his wife and recorded at least 83 men raping her."

It has been alleged that a French man dragged his wife and recorded at least 83 "aggressors" raping her over a ten-year period. The man, 'Dominique P' is said to have enrolled his better half's aggressors from a web-based gathering called 'Without Her Knowing,' where clients examine performing sex follows up on accidental accomplices and putting away proof on a USB drive in a document called 'Misuses'. According to Mail Online, 51 men between the ages of 26 and 73 have been identified and charged with raping his wife of 50 years, who goes by the pseudonym Françoise. Between 2011 and 2020, 92 cases were found by investigators. Lorazepam, it is alleged, was ingested by the husband in his wife's meal to numb her, then he invited men to have sex with her while she was unconscious at their home in Mazan, near Avignon. After arresting Dominique in 2020 for filming up the skirts of customers in a nearby supermarket in Carpentras, a search of his Provence home revealed camera equipment and "dozens of videos" of his wife's abuse. This is when investigators learned of the horrifying situation. The Daily Telegraph says that Dominique planned to abuse his wife while she was sleeping by using an online forum called "à son insu" (meaning "without him/her knowing"). Examiners have distinguished 92 instances of assault of Françoise, drawing up a rundown of 83 'aggressors' - yet still can't seem to recognize the supposed aggressors as a whole. Firefighter, municipal councilor, prison guard, nurse, and journalist are among those charged. In 2021, it was reported that 33 people had been incarcerated, with nine being arrested. A suspect's lawyer, Louis-Alain Lemaire, said at the time that some people thought the wife was "simulating" being unconscious as part of a sex game. Criminal investigators contended the suspects probably realized the lady was tranquilized, on the grounds that the spouse professes to have advised them before every episode of misuse. The prosecution claims that Dominique insists that none of the alleged attackers "gave up going through with sexual acts on his wife given her state." The alleged assaults took place between 2011 and 2020. According to them, Dominique "never used violence or threats" to ensure the rapes occurred, and they add: Each individual had free will to stop doing these things and leave. It is believed that some of the rapists visited the residence multiple times. Many affirm they were ignorant that Françoise had not assented to the experiences. It is alleged that "guests" were instructed to park further away from the residence and to refrain from bringing strong odors into the residence, such as perfume or tobacco, as this could rouse her. Apparently, one of them said, denying rape: He does whatever he wants with his wife.' In 2020, during a preliminary investigation into Dominique, it was discovered that he had been using a hidden camera to record women changing in a supermarket. Read the full article