Gisele Pelicot has blasted the “cowardice” of the dozens of men accused of abusing her during a decade of mass rape organised by her husband as she called for an end to “macho, patriarchal society where rape is trivialised”.
Her husband, Dominique Pelicot, has admitted in court to drugging his wife and inviting strangers to their house to rape her when she was unconscious, while most of the 50 other men on trial have denied rape, with verdicts set to be delivered around 20 December.
Gisele Pelicot, 72, only learnt of her ordeal when police stumbled upon videos and pictures her husband recorded of the abuse he is accused of orchestrating.
“For me this is the trial of cowardice,” Gisele Pelicot said on Tuesday, as she addressed the court in Avignon, southern France, for the third time, with many of the accused in the courtroom.
“Society needs to open its eyes to the fact that we live in a macho, patriarchal society where rape is trivialised.”
Testimony that dozens of seemingly ordinary men, aged 26 to 74 and from all walks of life, could have raped an unconscious woman has sparked horror worldwide, triggered protests and turned the trial into an examination of the pervasiveness of sexual violence, with Gisele Pelicot becoming a feminist hero.
Video recorded by her husband and shown in court over the past weeks have repeatedly featured Gisele Pelicot motionless, sometimes snoring, while some of the accused abused her at the family home in the southern French town of Mazan.
Many of the accused have told the court they did not realise they were raping her, did not intend to rape her or put all the blame on her husband, whom they said had manipulated them.
Under French law, she could have asked for the trial to be kept behind closed doors. Instead she asked for it be held in public, saying she hoped it would help other women speak up and show that victims have nothing to be ashamed of.
“Rape is rape,” she said on Tuesday. “When you walk into a bedroom and see a motionless body, at what point [do you decide] not to react,” she said in an address to the accused. “Why did you not leave immediately to report it to the police?”
She said she would never forgive her husband.
On Monday, the Pelicots’ two sons asked the court to punish him severely and also said they would never forgive him and that he was dead to them. Their sister said she believed Dominique Pelicot had also drugged and abused her.
Dominique Pelicot is due to address the court later on Tuesday. His lawyer Beatrice Navarro told reporters he was “very dejected”.
“He did what he did. No doubt about that. But we must still note that right now, he is very alone. He will always be very alone,” she said.