France Mass Rape Trial: In a case that shocked the world when it came to light earlier this year, Frenchman Dominique Pelicot was on Thursday (December 19) sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment for drugging and raping his wife, and inviting more than 70 other men to do so over a decade. Men varying from each other in terms of their age, occupation, race and background were reportedly invited by Dominique to sexually assault his wife Gisele in their home. She chose to forgo having her identity concealed to have a public trial, so that “shame swap sides”. Here is what to know about the case, what the court held and how it has shaped conversations around sexual abuse in France in recent months. What is the case against Dominique Pelicot? Pelicot, 72, is a retired power company worker. He married Gisele in 1973 and they had three children together. According to a report in The New York Times, Gisele, 72, was the family’s main breadwinner early on, as a manager in a big public company. They also have grandchildren. He first came under the police’s radar in 2010, when he was caught filming up the skirts and dresses of women in a local market near Paris. He was arrested and fined for capturing “indecent images”, though Gisele said in court that she was not made aware of the incident back then. In 2011, he began drugging his wife, mixing substances in her food and beverages. She then began experiencing long periods when she thought she kept sleeping for no discernable reason. She was also unable to remember what she did the previous evening, and thought she had an Alzheimer’s-like illness. The couple retired in 2013 and moved to Mazan, a small town in south France. It is here that Dominique began soliciting strangers to come into their house after he drugged his wife, inviting them to rape her. Police found him to possess more than 20,000 photos and videos in all, in folders marked “abuse,” “her rapists,” “night alone” and other titles. However, the police discovered them only in 2020, when investigating Dominique for having filmed up the skirts of women in another market. His phone, memory card and other electronic devices were seized. That is when the extent of the abuse first dawned on the investigators and Gisele was called in. What happened during the trial? Dominique admitted to the charges against him and was held guilty on all counts. He was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment – the maximum possible under French law. According to the BBC, he was convicted of aggravated rape on his now former wife, of the attempted aggravated rape of the wife of one of the co-accused, and of taking indecent images of his daughter, as well as his two daughters-in-law. Through the videos and photos he captured, 50 of the 72 men involved in the crimes were identified and included in the trial. A majority of them denied the charges of rape, claiming they were unaware Gisele was drugged, or that they thought she consensually agreed to be drugged, or that they believed her husband had consented for her. All were held guilty, some of aggravated rape, and given sentences ranging between five to 13 years. They have 10 days to appeal the ruling. In a speech outside the court, Gisele said she respected the verdict and thanked her supporters, victims’ associations and others. “I have confidence in our capacity collectively to find a better future in which men and women alike can live harmoniously together with mutual respect,” she said. Ripples throughout France Many have asked “Why?”, expressing shock at the fact that abuse of such scale happened and went unnoticed for years. Given that there is no common thread linking these men, it has led to discussions on the role played by a larger, pervasive rape culture – how society in general justifies and normalises rape cases such that they are not treated as serious crimes. Take the story of the earliest person identified by police. A report from The Guardian notes: “.Adrien L, the privately educated son of a local businessman. He is alleged to have raped Gisèle in her bedroom in March 2014, when he was 23 and she was 62. His pregnant girlfriend gave birth to their son 10 days later. He told the court he had had a “hatred of women” since discovering that a daughter born to a previous girlfriend was not his biological child. He was jailed for 14 years after a separate trial earlier this year for rape and violence against three ex-girlfriends in 2017 and 2018. He denied raping Gisèle, telling investigators he thought it was a scenario the couple had agreed on and that “from the moment the husband was present, it wasn’t rape”. In court, he repeated his denial, saying he had not known Gisèle was drugged.” The case has resulted in women galvanising around Gisele, calling for a change in the country’s attitudes towards crimes against women. The typical idea of who a rapist can be, one who is an outsider, unknown and lurking in the shadows, has also been challenged. In a majority of cases globally, women experience violence and abuse at the hands of men they know. Some have also called for changes to the rape laws to improve the low conviction rates. The role of online platforms, including the unmoderated website that enabled Pelicot to message other men, has been brought into focus, too, raising concerns that such crimes could happen in any part of the world. (With AP inputs)
