“There is no forgiveness. These men are degenerates. They committed rape.“. This is how forceful he was this Wednesday Gisele Pélicotthe French woman who for a decade was drugged by her husband to be raped by dozens of menin his statement on Wednesday behind closed doors in thel l Vaucluse Criminal Court in Avignon (southern France).
The septuagenarian, who has become a symbol against sexual violence, had her new hearing in the macro-trial against her husband Dominique and 50 other men, which was one of the most eagerly awaited and has left no one indifferent.
Looking her rapists straight in the face, Without her sunglasses, raising her voice and without hesitation, Gisèle has made it very clear how she feels after years of sexual assault, how she sees her attackers and, above all, her indignation in the face of the various attempts by the defense of the accused of question the credibility of his testimony.
This Wednesday they were seen for the first time Some of the photos and videos that her now ex-husband took during the rapes by the other defendants. Some defense attorneys have used these images to try to justify the fact that she was conscious during the assaults, as she appears with her eyes open in some of them.
“To me they are degenerates. I think they committed rape, not assault. I don’t usually get this angry, but enough is enough. These are not sex scenes, it’s rape“There is no forgiveness,” he stressed as soon as he took the stand, declaring himself “humiliated” due to suspicions raised by some of the defendants’ lawyers.
Gisele He stressed that these videos can “testify” that She was raped when she was “in a coma”, as a result of the strong sleeping pills that Dominique administered to her without her knowledge,
“Is rape a matter of time? “Three minutes, an hour? I am completely shocked because if those people saw their daughter, their sister in that state, what would they think?” she asked.
The daughter of the PellicotCaroline, close to tears in court as her mother spoke, left the courtroom when the visual evidence was shown.
In one of the most tense moments On Wednesday, two of the defense attorneys representing the men Dominique invited to her home to commit the abuse asked the court to show photographs they said raised questions about whether the victim knew what had happened to her.
Drawing by Gisèle Pélicot at the Avignon courthouse.
Reuters
Gisele rejected the accusations.Are “trying to set me up with these photos,” she said, reiterating that she never agreed to any sexual activity. Her ex-husband already admitted on Tuesday that he took all the images while his wife was unconscious.
“I have felt humiliated while I have been in this room. I’ve been called an alcoholicconspirator of Mr. Pélicot. It seems that I am the one to blame” he denounced, adding that His life had been “destroyed” for 10 years.
Dominique addresses his wife
Previously, Dominique, In the first time he addressed his wife directly in almost four years, he admitted that he had betrayed his ex-wife. “Unfortunately, my last ten years have been a catastrophe. I loved her badly, I did not respect her and I betrayed her. “I repeat, I have never touched anyone else in my family, not even my children or grandchildren,” he said.
Dominique, addressing his wife of half a decade, thanked his children for taking care of Gisèle after her arrest in September 2020.
“I thank my children for taking care of you when I was imprisoned”said the septuagenarian, before the indifferent gaze of his ex-wife, who responded to her former husband’s justifications as to why he had raped her.
“We’ve all had traumas in our childhood, I’ve suffered them myself, but that doesn’t make me a criminal. Afterwards, we make our own decisions,” said Gisèle.
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