At the Mazan rape trial, Gisèle Pelicot’s cost in opposition to the accused and their “cowardice” | EUROtoday

IIt is midday in Avignon and, underneath a gorgeous winter solar, the actors within the Mazan rape trial are leaving the courthouse in clusters. President Roger Arata in full jacket. Gisèle Pelicot, her kids, counsel for the civil social gathering. The accused, hoods pulled down over their faces. The public and the press. Everyone was shocked, and even just a little disoriented. The morning was tough and disturbing.

Tuesday, November 19, Gisèle Pelicot was questioned one final time by the protection. This trial is that of “cowardice”, she asserts: for the reason that opening of the listening to, “I have continued to hear things that are inaudible to me”. Expressions of remorse the place the accused first sought to “apologize themselves”, absurd explanations. “I am angry with these individuals who are behind me because at no time did they stop their actions, not for a moment did they go to denounce what was happening there. » She adds: “They could have had my death on their conscience. »

Gisèle Pelicot recounts these years of medical wandering, spent fearing that she would be told the worst: Alzheimer’s, cancer. How else can we explain his absences, his memory loss? “I said to myself “or this is crazy and I’m going to end up in a psychiatric hospital”. »

Passing of arms between legal professionals

M^e Nadia El Bouroumi, lawyer for 2 accused, arrives first on the bar, striding furiously. She units out to show that Gisèle Pelicot is, even at present, underneath the affect of her ex-husband. And all the pieces is there, bits of reality and false assertions: the civil social gathering allegedly refused to attend the trial on the times when Dominique Pelicot was absent. She introduced him garments in jail. Gisèle Pelicot is accountable for her personal tears: she would solely have cried when recalling the painful childhood of her former husband.

“Let us be clear: you are a civil party and a victim,” explains the lawyer. – At the start, I wasn’t that a lot of a sufferer: you accused me of being an confederate. » The tone rises, Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Stéphane Babonneau, calls for that his colleague cease “torturing” his shopper – ​​and evokes the “derogatory” standing that M would have obtained, on this matter,^e El Bouroumi. “Mr. Babonneau,” reprimands the president, “I will not allow you to make such comments, they are unworthy of the dress you are wearing. » In the box, on the benches, several defendants look hilarious.

These defendants that Gisèle Pelicot can look “straight in the eye”

The questions proceed, on protection. Sometimes delicate, typically bitter. “Is confessed rape less serious? – I will not answer this question, it is unworthy. » Gisèle Pelicot adds, later, that she is capable of “looking straight in the eyes” of the accused who’ve absolutely admitted the details after they apologize to her.

Isn’t Dominique Pelicot nonetheless a unprecedented manipulator for having identified learn how to deceive his household to this extent? “I was not manipulated in everyday life, I was not under influence. Do you think I would have stayed fifty years with a man who manipulated me? I think I have my personality, I have proven it throughout my life,” repeats Gisèle Pelicot. The husband she knew, she says, was certainly “considerate”, “benevolent”. “I had a completely normal life with him. We got up, we had breakfast, we went about our activities, me walking, him cycling, we received our friends, we went to our children’s house. »

So yes, perhaps he manipulated some of the co-defendants to get them to come to their house, she admits. But were they still handled once in the room? Were they manipulated when they entered an inert body, abandoned on its bed like a gun? “I heard one of them say that it would have taken a clinical examination to establish that I was unconscious, I had to hear that. Everyone, once they had satisfied their sexual urges, left saying “that’s a problem, but whoever can save it”. »

Gisèle Pelicot: “I want my grandchildren to be proud of their grandmother”

Why, asks a lawyer, did you wish to preserve your title regardless of the “tsunami” that hit the household? “When I arrived on this courtroom, my kids have been ashamed to have that title. But I’ve grandchildren named Pelicot. I need them to be happy with their grandmother. I’m considering specifically of my granddaughters, who’ve simply entered center faculty. Today, I’m identified all around the world. It’s past my management, I guarantee you, however that is how it’s. And I feel we’ll keep in mind Madame Pelicot, a lot much less Monsieur. »

To Discover



Kangaroo of the day

Answer

Gisèle Pelicot refuses to see the viewers remodeled into what it isn’t: she dismisses questions regarding the chilly instances attributed to her ex-husband, she doesn’t point out the case of her daughter Caroline nor that of her kids. -children. “It’s already a lot to carry. This trial is that of Mr. Pelicot and the fifty men behind me. »

The defense insists, asking her to react to her ex-husband’s comments the day before: summoned by her son to explain his images of Caroline naked, Dominique Pelicot claimed to have been the victim of blackmail. “I have no explanation to give,” says Gisèle Pelicot. – But do you take into account these explanations credible? – I don’t want to reply this query. » Caroline Darian hurriedly leaves the room, adopted by her brother David. “Are you the one sufferer on this trial? » we later ask Gisèle Pelicot. – The one who’s immediately involved at present is me. But the entire household is a sufferer. » On the bench she has joined, Caroline shakes her head. She would not have a look at her mom when she returns to her seat.