Gisèle Pélicot, the French woman raped by 72 men, tells all

“I was sacrificed on the altar of vice” and “I was treated like garbage.” These are the first public words of Gisèle Pélicot, the woman who was drugged by her husband so that other men could rape her while she was unconscious. Pélicot testified this Thursday at the trial that is taking place in Avignon (south-east of France) against 51 defendantsa judicial process that will be carried out in public so that “everything is known” and “no other woman suffers chemical submission.”

“For me the harm has been done,” said Gisèle Pélicot in her first appearance before the Criminal Court of the Vaucluse department before adding that she has given up on everything being done behind closed doors “on behalf of all those women who may never be recognized as victims.”

According to journalists present in the courtroom on the fourth day of the trial, her wish is that, through her testimony, “no woman should suffer this chemical submission.”

“I think I have said everything I could say. It is not an easy exercise,” he said in a statement to the press upon leaving the Palace of Justice in Avignon.

Adding to this difficulty was the “pressure” from the defendants’ lawyers, who felt that they wanted to set “traps” for him with their questions.

“I have tried to respond as best as possible. It is necessary to fight until the end“This process will take four months,” he concluded.

According to the instructors, Gisele Pelicotwho is now 71 years old, was raped dozens of times between 2011 and 2020 by dozens of men whom her husband, Dominique, had contacted so that, in a kind of voyeurism, they could have sexual relations with her, although she was unaware of anything because she was under the effects of anti-anxiety drugs.

It all came to light in September 2020 when Dominique Pélicot was arrested by security guards at a supermarket in the city of Carpentras for filming up the skirts of several women.

When the police went to analyze his computer equipment They came across thousands of photos and videos showing their unconscious wife and the abuse she had been subjected to.

This morning, the victim told the court that “the police saved my life by searching Mr. P.’s computer,” which is how she referred to the man who has been her husband for half a century, with whom she is in a relationship. divorce process.

“For 50 years, I always supported my husband” and during that time “we stayed together,” she said before pointing out that her world “collapsed” on November 2, 2020 when they were both summoned to the police station and shown the files that had been discovered on her.

She said that at first she had a hard time recognizing herself, that she felt “inert,” “asleep,” and that she realized how she was being abused: “Rape is not the right word, it is barbarism”.

“These are not sex scenes, they are rape scenes. There are two or three on top of me and I am inert,” the victim said, before insisting that “they sacrificed me on the altar of vice.”

He also criticized the position of most of those who appear as defendants, who claim not to have been aware that he was drugged and that there was no consent on his part.

“These men are defiling me, taking advantage of me. And not one of them says that there is something wrong,” she added.

Gisèle Pélicot assured that I had never had threesome sex before nor exchange partners and said she was “shocked” when she found out about her husband’s sexual deviations, who “in 50 years of living together, never made any obscene gestures.”

In total, in addition to Dominique Pélicot, 50 other men have been identified and are being tried for the crime of aggravated rape, which is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.