French Prosecutor Seeks 20-Year Sentence for Dominique Pelicot in Rape Case
The text reads, “Support for Gisele Pelicot.”, 2024. X/ @dw_espanol
November 25, 2024 Hour: 1:14 pm
He is accused of abusing his wife for 10 years, during which he drugged her with sedatives and offered her to dozens of men.
On Monday, Laure Chabaud, the prosecutor for the Court of Appeal in Avignon, requested a 20-year prison sentence—the maximum penalty in France for rape—for Dominique Pelicot.
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This French citizen is accused of abusing his wife for 10 years, during which he drugged her with sedatives and offered her to dozens of men, enabling them to abuse her. Prosecutor Chabaud described Pelicot as a “perverse, egocentric, disturbed man with multiple sexual deviations” who sought to satisfy his desires without setting “any limits” and without the victim’s consent.
Dominique Pelicot, who has admitted to the crimes he is accused of, took thousands of photos and videos of the rapes. These recordings have become key evidence in the prosecution of 51 men who are now standing trial. However, most of these men deny committing rape, claiming they believed the victim had consented.
Prosecutor François Mayet made it clear from the outset of his arguments that Gisèle Pelicot was reduced to an object, emphasizing that she did not give her consent either before or after the sexual acts to which she was subjected.
The French prosecution also highlighted the existence of 20,000 visual documents recorded by the primary accused, which reveal the “extreme violence of the crimes.”
In an initial reaction to the press, Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer, Isabelle Zavarro, stated that she had anticipated the request for the maximum penalty but expressed surprise at the motivations, particularly the characterization of her client.
“I believe the prosecution has distanced itself somewhat from Dominique Pelicot’s personality, which, in my opinion, could explain certain aspects,” said Zavarro, implying that her client intends to use elements of his biography in his defense, including alleged abuse he claims to have suffered during his childhood and adolescence.
The prosecution also requested a 17-year prison sentence for aggravated rape against Jean-Pierre Marechal, a man who emulated Dominique Pelicot’s methods to drug and rape his own wife.
Marechal confessed to the acts and identified himself as a “criminal rapist.” Between 2015 and 2020, he secretly administered sedatives to his wife about ten times to sexually abuse her, often alongside Dominique Pelicot, who visited the couple’s home. The assaults ended one day when Marechal’s wife woke up while Pelicot was at the house attempting to rape her.
The events being tried in Avignon, which began on September 2, occurred between July 2011 and October 2020. Initially, they took place in the Paris region and later in the home to which the Pelicots moved upon retirement, in Mazan, near Avignon.
Dominique Pelicot used an online platform to connect with other men and invited them to his home. He administered large doses of sedatives to his wife, rendering her unconscious, which allowed the men to abuse her without her memory of the events.
The ordeal came to an end in September 2020 when Dominique Pelicot was arrested for filming under women’s skirts at a supermarket in Carpentras. Upon examining his digital files, investigators uncovered thousands of videos and photos documenting the rapes he had subjected his wife to.
teleSUR/ JF Source: EFE
