Dominique Pélicot, accused of drugging his wife for a decade so that she could be raped by strangers, will not be able to testify at the trial in southern France until at least Monday due to health problems.
According to the criteria of
The 71-year-old man has been absent since Monday due to illness and underwent a medical examination on Wednesday.said the president of the Avignon court.
“His health has worsened (…) He will be unable to appear on Thursday and Friday. I think he will be hospitalized (…)”, said Roger Arata.
His health has worsened (…) He will be unable to appear on Thursday and Friday. I think he will be hospitalized.
“At best, we will be able to have Mr. Pélicot before Monday,” added the president of the court.
The defendant arrived in the dock on Wednesday leaning on a cane due to hip pain, dressed in a grey jacket. He looked very weak, his facial features were marked and he was holding his head in his hands.
Dominique Pélicot is accused of drugging his wife by giving her medication against her will so that she could be raped by dozens of strangers between 2011 and 2020.
Pélicot and 50 other men face up to 20 years in prison for aggravated rape, in a case that shocked France and made headlines around the world.
A large audience follows the trial
Disbelief and disgust are rife among the large crowd attending the rape trial in Avignon, southern France, where the lack of space in the main courtroom forced the court to open another nearby room to broadcast the event.
Men and women, young and old, law students and retirees… More and more people are gathering every morning in front of the court where the trial, which began on September 2 and will end in December, is taking place.
In France, trials are not broadcast on television and the only way to follow them is through media reports or by attending as a member of the public, if the trial is not held behind closed doors.
Everything this poor woman has been through… And everything that will come next. All the collateral damage for the families and also for the families of the accused.
But in Avignon, the public cannot enter the courtroom, where all the seats are occupied by the accused, their lawyers and around twenty journalists, and must settle for watching it on a screen on another adjoining room.
“I don’t feel well. I’m disgusted,” said Robert, a retired firefighter from Marseille, as he left the room on Tuesday after hearing the harsh facts recounted by one of the investigators in the case.
“Everything this poor woman has been through… And everything that will come next. All the collateral damage for the families and also for the families of the accused,” adds the man, who refuses to give his last name.
Masks
Since Monday, all defendants who appear free – some 30 of the 51 defendants on trial – have been wearing anti-Covid masks to avoid appearing uncovered in front of cameras around the world.
Some even wear balaclavas and sunglasses, which they remove when they enter the courtroom. The public then heads into the courtroom where the proceedings are broadcast on three television screens.
But even here, seats are scarce. About 15 journalists occupy the front rows, and behind them, around fifty spectators get one of the coveted seats.
Another thirty wait for hours for a place to become available, despite the announced absence on Tuesday morning of the main defendant, Dominique Pélicot, for a second consecutive day for medical reasons.
Those who are allowed inside listen to the investigator talk about this case involving 92 acts of rape. Some open their eyes, cover their mouths with a hand or shake their heads when he describes “quite sordid” events.
“This is the first time I’ve attended a trial and it’s very shocking. The violence of the events being recounted, the slowness of the interrogations… it’s very hard,” says Chloé Pigaglio, a member of the feminist collective Oser le Féminisme 84.
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