“What if Mr. [Dominique] “Pelicot isn’t here on Monday?”. The main defendant accused of drugging his wife so that she could be raped by strangers has been ill for several days and his prolonged absence threatens the development of this highly publicised trial in France.
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The court in Avignon, in the south of France, had planned question him last Tuesday, but this 71-year-old retiree He was absent from the hearings all this week and could return on Monday, his president explained on Thursday, Roger Arata.
Confirms the need for a permit this Thursday and tomorrow Friday, the implementation of an adapted treatment, with a possible hospitalization, and a possible release date on Monday
A doctor examined him and “confirms the need for a permit this Thursday and tomorrow, Friday, the implementation of an adapted treatment, with a possible hospitalization, and a possible release date on Monday,” said Arata.
But what if he is still absent on Monday? asked his lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, who, like the civil parties, is advocating that the trial be suspended pending his recovery. “It would be a catastrophe”the president of the court replied in the morning.
Although the judge first spoke of postponing for a week the expected interrogation of the main accused in Avignon, where media from all over the world had travelled, hours later he announced that he was even considering postponing it to a new date if “remains unavailable”.
For the moment, Arata suspended it until Monday. If Pelicotwho would suffer from an infection, then returns, the week would be dedicated “in priority” to his interrogation and new testimony of his main victim, his now ex-wife Gisèle Pelicot, he detailed.
They would then declare the two sons of the couple, David and Florian, and their son-in-law, Pierre, as well as the accused’s brother. His children demanded to be able to testify in the presence of their father, as his daughter had done last week.
“Shame changes sides”: a symbol of the fight against chemical submission and sexual violence
Pelicot He is accused of drugging his wife by secretly administering medication so that she could be raped by dozens of strangers between 2011 and 2020. Along with him, 50 other men, aged between 26 and 74, face sentences of up to 20 years in prison.
We must change the law and the issue of consent must be explicitly included or defined in the Penal Code.
This trial has become a Symbol of the use of drugs to commit sexual assault (chemical submission) and also an example, for feminist movements, to relaunch the debate on the issue of consent.
“We must change the law and the question of consent must be explicitly included or defined in the Penal Code,” said the French acting Minister for Equality, Aurore Bergé, on RTL radio.
Referring to the case of Gisèle Pelicot, Bergé estimated that the woman, who until 2020 was unaware of the facts, did not suffer mere “sexual acts”but “rapes, acts of torture, acts of barbarism.”
The main victim has become a symbol of the struggle against sexual assault. Her face, along with the slogan “Shame changes sides”was used to call for a demonstration on Friday “against rape culture” in Avignon.
Pending the questioning of Pelicot, the magistrates continued this week with the examination of the first group of co-accused: Jean-Pierre M., 63 years old, Jacques C. (72), Lionel R. (44) and Cyrille D. (54).
The first of them, considered Pelicot’s disciple, He is the only one who is not accused of raping his wife, but of raping his own wife for five years alongside the main defendant, also giving her tranquilizers to put her to sleep.
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