Dominique Pelicot, who is on trial for having drugged his wife for years so that more than fifty men could sexually abuse her while she was unconscious, He will return to the process tomorrow after being absent today. for one brief hospitalization and will be able to give a statement.
According to the criteria of
The president of the court hearing the case, Roger Arata, announced that the hospital issued a certificate stating that “there are no contraindications” so that Pelicot can be transferred to the Vaucluse Criminal Court in Avignon (south-east), where the trial has been taking place since 2nd.
Pelicot, who was already absent from Monday’s afternoon session, was due to testify today, according to the trial schedule, but His testimony was replaced by that of other witnesses.
The defense requests a change of date for Pelicot’s statement
Arata said that tomorrow’s program “does not change” and that the questioning of the accused will be interspersed with that of other witnesses. In principle, the first of the remaining 50 defendants could also testify.
In any case, Dominique will be here tomorrow.
Pelicot’s lawyer, Béatrice Zavarrohe said to Efe At the end of today’s session, he requested that his client be heard “schedule for Friday morning” and that the court told him that it would respond to him tomorrow wednesday.
“In any case, Dominique will be here tomorrow,” he stressed.
Earlier in the morning, Zavarro told reporters that she had been informed that Pelicot, 71, had been hospitalized for medical attention.
Zavarro explained that his client had started to have the first symptoms last Friday of what could be a urinary or kidney problem.
On Monday, Pelicot was absent shortly after the session began for the same reason. Arata decided to request an expert opinion this morning to know exactly your health status to be able to decide.
His lawyer rejected speculation this morning about an alleged maneuver by his client to avoid testifying.
The main accused was “impatient” to declare
Zavarro stated that Pélicot “will answer all questions” and that he was “impatient” to be able to address his former wife, Gisèle – they have been divorced since August – and his children, but that in the meantime this medical problem had arisen “that he had not planned.”
Some defendants claim ignorance of the victim’s condition
In the absence of the statement of the main accused, during the Stéphan Gal testified tomorrowone of the police investigators whose work was behind the investigation.
Gal claimed that there was no consent on the part of Gisèle Pelicot for none of the 50 men who have been identified as having had sexual relations with her in the audiovisual files seized from her now ex-husband.
Gal remembered that Giséle was always under the effects of the anxiolytics administered to him by Dominique Pelicot and his unconscious state completely destroyed his will.
He explained that in some of the practices to which the victim was subjected, he was left in evidence that there was suffering even in that state, since in the recordings you can see him moving or making gestures of choking when, for example, one of the accused put his penis in his mouth.
Some say they don’t know that I was drugged
Defense arguments about the accused
Some of those sitting on the bench have acknowledged that they knew that Gisèle Pelicot was under chemical submissionbut some deny it and that is precisely the basis of their defense to avoid being convicted of aggravated rape, a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
To justify this alleged ignorance or at least limit his responsibility, his lawyers argue that it was Dominique Pelicot, who organized everything, from contacting them online to preparing the place where the sessions were held.and that they were ultimately mere executors of a plan designed in advance.
One of the lawyers, Guillaume de Palma, expressed to the press at the end of the session his discontent with the use of the term “rape” in this process, since the facts “are part of a libertine context”.
Of course, the date of last modification (of each video) corresponds to the realization
He added that the other defendants “they didn’t turn around” because they were under the imprint “of someone authoritarian and manipulative,” in reference to Pelicot.
The videos and photos kept by the main defendant also show nine individuals who also abused Gisèle Pelicot, but who have not been identified.
One of the sexual abuse sessions to which Gisèle Pelicot was subjected under anxiolytics lasted at least six hours with a single man, according to the conclusions of one of the experts, the expert Olivier Eymardwho declared today.
Eymard wanted to make it “clear that the date of last modification (of each video) corresponds to the production” and that allows the duration of the sessions to be determined, in response to the controversy that had been generated because Some lawyers questioned whether the duration was as long as the private prosecution claims.
According to the summary findings, Dominique Pelicot was drugging his wife with anxiolytics between 2011 and 2020which was learned after being arrested by filming women upskirts in a supermarket in the city of Carpentras.
When his computer devices were searched, these recordings were found, stored on a hard drive.with dozens of men she had contacted online, largely through a dating platform that was later shut down.
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