Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application Add to Calendar Caldwell Parrish Funeral Home & Crematory Add to Calendar Add to Calendar This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Illinois.  Passed away peacefully at home Linda's was the long time companion of Kurt Freund she was the loving mother of April (Raymond) Fong Thomas (Missy) Freund and Angela Burns.  Linda was the cherished grandmother of three granddaughters; Lily and Lucy Fong and Briana Freund.  Dear sister of Larry (Denise) Buss Linda was dedicated to her job at Leca Medical Supply for 27 years before retirement listening to live entertainment and relaxing with scented candles President and Chief Coaching Officer of Sounding Board—the first customizable leadership coaching management platform offering a tech-driven human-centric approach and a network of world-class coaches in more than 60 countries and over 15 languages Sounding Board has helped hyper growth companies like Chime and Zoom and legacy brands like Mozilla and Bloomberg advance their leaders’ performance at scale—and was named among the GSV EdTech 150 as one of 2021’s Most Transformational Growth Companies in Digital Learning Lori started her corporate career in Training and Development Ridge Consulting She is certified by the Coaches Training Institute and the ICF as one of the first 300 coaches globally and was a founding member of the Genentech Preferred Network of Coaches Lori is also the author of a book entitled “Leadership Revolution: The Future Of Developing Dynamic Leaders”—which is an untraditional guide delivering an exciting new approach to leadership development tailor-made for the 21st century Connect on LinkedIn own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment Sorbonne Université provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation FR View all partners The horrifying trial of mass rape in Mazan has brought to light a chilling case of chemical submission where a husband drugged his wife regularly to orchestrate her rapes As the 51 defendants and their defence attorneys continue to deny the accusations despite overwhelming evidence it raises important questions about the role of collective imagination in enabling sexual violence – particularly when fantasies of domination take such extreme forms gods often take advantage of sleeping women while Zeus seduces an unconscious Leda by transforming himself into a swan Ariadne is abandoned by Theseus on the island of Naxos where Dionysus falls for her beauty as she sleeps women in mythology are not allowed to invade men’s sleep Her curiosity leads to immediate punishment forcing her to complete a series of dangerous tasks including a journey to the underworld to steal beauty from Persephone Many texts and paintings, inspired by these myths, encourage the viewer to gaze at these sleeping women through the lustful eyes of all-powerful men is cursed to prick her finger on a spindle and fall into a hundred-year slumber and Giambattista Basile’s Italian version (1634) takes advantage of her and fathers children while she remains unconscious held back by “Reason” and “Discretion,” but ultimately succumbs to desire and Venus The princess only awakens when one of her twins sucks her finger leaving the princess to face her ogre-like mother-in-law who orders the execution of the princess and her children The young woman who consents does not do so without peril In both the Brothers Grimm version (1812) and Disney’s adaptation the prince kisses the sleeping princess without her consent and later marries her presented as the fulfillment of all her dreams According to Bruno Bettelheim’s Psychoanalysis of Fairy Tales, sleep symbolizes the time required for the formation of the adolescent soul. From a psychological perspective, being asleep represents the repression of trauma, as interpreted through a Jungian lens in works such as Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ Women Who Run with the Wolves But do all readers and viewers grasp the metaphorical aspects of these interpretations  do they recognize that forcing someone into sleep can have traumatic consequences  The invasion of women’s intimate spaces has long been a recurring theme in male fantasies in 17th- and 18th-century literature male protagonists often fantasize about entering women’s private chambers to exploit their vulnerability while they sleep These voyeurs are captivated by the perceived wholeness of a sleeping woman They rationalize their actions by assuming the women were awaiting their arrival – similar to the defendants in the Mazan case who claimed they believed it was merely part of a libertine game the English novel Clarissa Harlowe by Richardson (1748) translated into French by Abbé Prévost in 1751 depicts the consequences of a drug-facilitated rape and her seducers come to realize the strength of female virtue Eighteenth-century women readers praised this work for celebrating the resilience of admirable women portrayed vampires invading women’s bedrooms but questions of consent become more prominent Mellors approaches the heroine while she is half-asleep In Yasunari Kawabata’s The House of the Sleeping Beauties (1961) an elderly man visits a house where he can lie beside unconscious young women their vulnerability generates a disturbing erotic tension a woman is raped in her sleep by a man she trusted leaving him in denial and her consumed by guilt The fantasy of a woman being dead or asleep has captivated male authors and artists such as Bonnard and Picasso. Today, the reality of drug-facilitated sexual assault affects women in nightclubs and women in spaces ranging from Hollywood parties to French parliament halls While these images remain embedded in our culture deconstructing the “male gaze” and using counterexamples to make people think about consent Similarly, MP Sandrine Josso has made her complaint public and called for the creation of a commission on chemical submission, asserting that shame must change sides. In 2021, anti-sexual violence advocate Noémie Renard also urged an end to this in her work Ending Rape Culture reinterpreting characters like Hera and Medea as symbols of resistance rather than submission Reading fairy tales with children offers an important opportunity to teach consent Educators should explain the historical context while also addressing the modern implications Scenes in which women are unconscious or drugged should no longer be interpreted as seduction Valmont sneaks into Cécile Volanges’ room while she sleeps and violates her Some women have also called for an end to celebrating kisses without consent. In 2017, an English mother criticized Sleeping Beauty for its non-consensual kiss, sparking debate. In 2021, Disney’s portrayal of Snow White’s kiss in the glass coffin ignited controversy in the United States This doesn’t mean these works should be censored, but rather that they should be reexamined with a critical lens, as Lou Lubie does in the graphic novel Et à la fin ils meurent : La sale vérité des contes de fées (2021) Discussions about such behavior should also be encouraged as seen in the efforts of Amnesty International and the media outlet Simone Reading more texts by women authors introduces readers to the female gaze, or what researcher Azélie Fayolle calls the “feminist gaze.” As she explains : “We still want to read our old books and see our old films but we no longer want to do so through the eyes of the generations that came before us ; we are of our time.” Women authors like M.C. d’Aulnoy, known for her volumes in The Cabinet des fées) have made their mark by writing fairy tales Comparing their versions with those of male writers highlights the agency of their heroines Belle is a strong heroine created by Jeanne Marie Le Prince de Beaumont who holds her captive and demands her submission and to the handsome man who tries to seduce her this intelligent young woman – a passionate reader – says no The devastating effects of rape on its victims have been described by numerous authors including Marguerite de Navarre (L’Heptaméron and Virginie Despentes in Baise-moi (1994) These writers portray the victim’s initial shock followed by trauma and a long “lethargic sleep.” As we continue to awaken our collective consciousness it is vital to remember that literature offers a path for reflection helping women emerge from centuries of silence and slumber This article was originally published in French where Gisèle Pelicot was allegedly drugged and raped hope the case will raise awareness of sexual violence residents of Mazan were appalled that this picturesque village in Provence was being referred to in the media as “the village of the rapists” France has been shaken to its core this week by the trial of Dominique Pelicot who had moved from the Paris area to this southern village in retirement where he is accused of drugging his then wife and recruiting men online to rape her when she was unconscious in her bedroom over a period of nine years between 2011 and 2020 “The absolute horror of it,” said a retired teacher, 76, who was born in Mazan to a family of cherry farmers and who had taught at the local school. “How could so many people have been involved without anyone knowing it was happening?” Read moreShe said that as a teacher and a local resident But in the community of 6,400 people in Mazan which includes those who commute to the city of Avignon for work or retire from Paris the Pelicots were not well known and were not active in local associations Dominique Pelicot was sometimes seen riding his bike at weekends occasionally with a little dog in the basket and sometimes played the ballgame pétanque The couple had retired to the village in the shadow of Mount Ventoux for a quiet life Gisèle Pelicot was 57 when her husband started crushing drugs into her dinners on a regular basis and the alleged rapes began moments of extreme fatigue and wondered if she was experiencing early-onset Alzheimer’s She also had unexplained gynaecological problems but never imagined what was happening to her at night which she described in court as “torture” and being treated like an inanimate doll or a “garbage bag” Life in the village changed when Dominique Pelicot was stopped by a security guard for filming up women’s skirts in a supermarket in the nearby Vaucluse town of Carpentras one afternoon in September 2020 French feminists say that filming up skirts is sometimes not treated with the seriousness it deserves but in this case the security guard acted fast and contacted police The security guard and the women who filed police complaints are now considered to have saved Gisèle Pelicot’s life Police seized Dominique Pelicot’s computer equipment and launched an investigation The specialist police investigators said in court that without the security guard’s action “it might still be going on today” Gisèle Pelicot, who divorced her husband after his arrest, did not know the alleged rapists identified by police. She told court she had recognised only one of them, a man who had come to discuss cycling with her husband at their home in Mazan. “I saw him now and then in the bakery; I would say hello. I never thought he’d come and rape me,” she said. In Mazan, the mayor, Louis Bonnet, said: “What happened here is very serious and cannot be minimised. Everyone here is absolutely disgusted.” He said that no one who is part of the trial still lives in Mazan, including Gisèle Pelicot. He believed that two accused men had lived there in the past. Bonnet said that unfortunately the court hearings had shown the wide-scale nature of the crimes, which, he said, could have happened anywhere. In court in Avignon, where five judges are trying the case, women have come to support Gisèle Pelicot on the public benches, applauding her as she enters and leaves court. Among them, Martine, 68, a retired administrator from the Gard, said: “I’m here to show solidarity to Gisèle Pelicot, a brave woman. Things have to change – there is too much violence against women and girls. This case is so beyond comprehension that I wanted to come to court to try to understand it.” Thousands of women have attended street demonstrations across France in support of Gisèle Pelicot. Feminist graffiti in Avignon read: “Ordinary men, horrible crimes.” In Mazan, one woman working in the tourism industry said: “It’s really important that this case is talked about across the world and gets as much coverage as possible. We have to wake up to the reality of sexual violence.” Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. Louis Bonnet sought to minimise the crimes of Dominique Pelicot who admitted regularly drugging his wife and allowing scores of men to rape her The mayor of the French town at the centre of the shocking multiple rape trial has gone into hiding following death threats over comments he made in an interview. Louis Bonnet, 74, caused outrage when he said the crimes of Dominique Pelicot, 71, should not be blown out of proportion because “after all, no one died”. Mr Pelicot has admitted regularly drugging his wife, Gisele, now 72, and allowing scores of men to rape her over a 10-year period. Mr Bonnet is now under the protection of police officers in the south of France, at an unknown address far away from Mazan, where he was elected mayor in 2020. “I’ve been threatened, I’ve been insulted,” he said on Friday. “Someone asked the town hall for my address so that they could raid my home with a gang.” Mr Bonnet said he had also been receiving threats on social media, and by phone, since speaking to the BBC earlier this month. He had commented on the ongoing trial at the Vaucluse Criminal Court in Avignon, in which 50 men are accused of aggravated rape alongside Mr Pelicot. Mr Bonnet expressed views about rape that are widely held in France, especially among older men. He claimed to have received many messages from local residents who support him. Mr Bonnet said in the interview: “The bottom line is that at some point, when our village is seen as a breeding ground for rapists, people have to speak out. If there was a slip-up with Mr and Mrs Pelicot, it does not represent the whole village.” But he later made a full apology on Facebook, saying he regretted his comments. Ms Pelicot has waived her right to anonymity in a case that has caused shock and outrage around the world. She has been in the courtroom since the trial opened on 2 September, supported by her three adult children. Mr Pelicot was first arrested in September 2020 for secretly filming up women’s skirts at a supermarket in Carpentras. His devices were searched, and there were hundreds of pornographic videos and photos of women. It was while in custody that Mr Pelicot disclosed the existence of a hard drive containing some 3,800 photos and videos of his wife being raped between 2011 and 2020. Detectives have listed a total of 92 rapes committed by 72 men, 51 of whom have been identified. The sex ring involved advertising on a site for swinger partners on an online forum called “Without Her Knowing” on the now-defunct coco.fr site. Of the 83 men involved, 51 of them, aged between 26 and 73, were identified and arrested by police. Mr Pelicot is said to have sedated his wife by putting a powerful anxiolytic into her dinner. Alleged rapists involved in the case include civil servants, ambulance workers, soldiers, prison guards, nurses, a municipal councillor, and truck drivers. In a separate case, Mr Pelicot has been charged with raping and murdering a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris in 1991. He has admitted one attempted rape in 1999, after DNA testing proved a case against him. The aggravated rape case is due to last until 21 December. Fourteen of the other defendants have also admitted rape, while the remainder deny any wrongdoing. Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies When an uprising against the Assad regime erupted in 2011 Mazan al-Hamada was among the first to join protests in his city of Deir Ezzor '+n.escapeExpression("function"==typeof(o=null!=(o=r(e,"eyebrowText")||(null!=l?r(l,"eyebrowText"):l))?o:n.hooks.helperMissing)?o.call(null!=l?l:n.nullContext||{},{name:"eyebrowText",hash:{},data:t,loc:{start:{line:28,column:63},end:{line:28,column:78}}}):o)+" \n '+(null!=(o=c(e,"if").call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2PreText"):l,{name:"if",hash:{},fn:n.program(32,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:63,column:20},end:{line:63,column:61}}}))?o:"")+"\n"+(null!=(o=(c(e,"ifAll")||l&&c(l,"ifAll")||n.hooks.helperMissing).call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Text"):l,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Link"):l,{name:"ifAll",hash:{},fn:n.program(34,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:64,column:20},end:{line:70,column:30}}}))?o:"")+" drugged by her husband and raped by more than 50 men over a ten year period In Mazan It's that stupid egotism that so many men have… No one belongs to anyone So declared Dominique Pelicot, on 18 October, during the hearing in which he was the protagonist, as Marlène Thomas reports in Libération “She's his wife, he can do what he wants with his wife”. This is what Simon M, one of the accused in the “Mazan rapes case”, declared, as Lorraine de Foucher reported in Le Monde in June 2023 Is there any better explanation of patriarchy The police compiled a list of 83 attackers thanks to Dominique Pelicot's rigorously maintained archive of videos and photos This trial has been called “historic” because of how it strikes the conscience of France, but also because its scope goes far beyond national borders: press from across the globe is present to report from the Avignon Criminal Court. It is also historic because it takes place in a “post-#MeToo” world It was made possible by Voxeurop’s community High-quality reporting and translation comes at a cost To continue producing independent journalism Subscribe or Donate In Krytyka Polityczna Aleksandra Herzyk writes that the trial displays the “banality of evil” that is so often hidden behind media attention that focuses on immigrants without legal permits and avoids looking instead “into the homes of ordinary families Another feature that makes this trial historic is the position taken by Gisèle Pelicot Divorced from her husband at the time of writing she still uses her married surname so that she can use her maiden name more freely “In waiving her anonymity, allowing the process to be held in public and agreeing to the videos her husband made to be shown in open court, Gisèle Pelicot has diverted the spotlight on to her alleged rapists”, writes Kim Willsher on The Guardian This trial also occurs in the wake of a long debate among European feminists about the concept of consent in the definition of rape which culminated in the European Directive on Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence This directive eventually excluded the article that sought to define rape as “absence of consent” Researchers Sara Uhnoo, Sofie Erixon and Moa Bladini in a June 2024 article for the International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice identified as many as 20 European rape laws based on consent seems to respond to this question directly when she writes that “the courtroom testimony has highlighted how society in general has not yet got a clear understanding of consent The trial has opened a debate on whether to more explicitly spell out the active need for consent within the law on rape in France.“ fear it will undermine the presumption of innocence or lead to an increase in false convictions In Europe, according to data from a survey carried out by Patricia Devlin and Maria Delaney for Noteworthy and the European Data Journalism Network between 2021 and 2023 more than 68,000 victims of rape and more than 116,000 victims of sexual violence were recorded the notion of consent “accords too much importance to the ‘yes’ when what is central ‘is the possibility of saying ‘no’” many of the defendants justified themselves by saying that they thought they were taking part in a “couple's game” to which Gisèle Pelicot had supposedly consented: “What the system has to say to the defendants is that even if she had given a ‘yes’ – either verbally or in writing – this does not exonerate them from anything because none of the defendants could have been unaware that the woman could not have said no at any time,” she concludes Would you consider supporting our work? Voxeurop depends on subscriptions and donations from its readers. You don't have permission to access the page you requested. What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed. The abusers and rapists - ranging from their 20s to the their 70s - have been dubbed ‘The Everyman’ I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The 50 men on trial for raping unconscious grandmother Gisèle Pelicot in a ten-year campaign of sordid secret attacks orchestrated by her husband have been dubbed “Monsieur Tout-le-monde” — Mr Everyman They are men of all walks of life, ranging in age from 27 to 74, who answered Dominique Pelicot’s invitation to abuse his drugged wife in an online chatroom On Friday a French court found 47 men guilty of rape two guilty of attempted rape and two guilty of sexual assault Most lived in south-eastern France within a 60km radius of the village of Mazan some are unemployed and three quarters have families of their own One knew he had HIV when he raped Gisèle on six occasions and chose not to wear a condom, according to police. She didn’t contract HIV, though she was found to have other sexually transmitted diseases, a medical expert testified. Six have previous convictions for domestic violence, two have convictions for sexual violence. A total of 23 have a criminal record for offences such as drunk-driving and possession of drugs. These are the men accused of carrying out one of the worst sex crimes in French history. Gisèle Pelicot’s husband of almost 50 years, together the couple share three adult children Caroline, David and Florian. Telling the court “I am a rapist”, he admitted to his crimes, revealing he had started drugging Gisèle in 2011 after 40 years of marriage when he was nearing retirement. The abuse continued for the next ten years as he continued to sneak tranquilisers into her food and drink as he invited others met in an online chatroom to join the attacks, which he filmed in their bedroom. He was found guilty of rape and sentenced to 20 years - the maximum possible jail term. Described by the French media as Pelicot’s “disciple”, he is the only defendant not accused of raping Gisèle. However he admitted to following Pelicot’s lead, drugging his own wife for five years, raping her and inviting Pelicot to rape her too. He has since said that was he did to his wife was “atrocious” and admitted: “I was a rapist, but I’m not anymore.” He was found guilty of attempted rape and aggravated rape of his wife and sentenced to 12 years. The salesman worked in the same supermarket in Carpentras where Pelicot was first caught filming under women’s skirts in 2020. The father of three alleged he was influenced by Pelicot. He said he “never had the intention” of raping Gisèle Pelicot but “as I did not have Madame Pelicot’s consent, I can only say that I did”. He was found guilty of attempted rape and aggravating factors and sentenced to eight years. The retired father of two, who also used to work as a truck driver, told the court he believed he was taking part in a consensual fantasy when he visited the Pelicot’s Mazan home 2020. He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to five years. With no criminal record, the former amateur footballer has been with his partner for 32 years, with whom he shares two children. He admitted to rape and said he didn’t know what to do once he realised she was unconscious: “I froze. I was cheating on my wife.” He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to eight years. An unemployed alcoholic from Carpentras, he was accused of visiting the Pelicot’s home on New Year’s Eve in 2018 after logging on to the now closed ‘Coco’ website. He was found guilty of attempted rape and aggravating factors and sentenced to six years. The trial heard he missed the birth of his daughter because he was busy assaulting Gisèle. He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to 10 years. The father of two daughters denied attempted rape after he visited the Pelicot’s in October 2019. He was found guilty of attempted rape and two aggravating factors and sentenced to five years. Born in Turkey, the father was living in Valréas when he met Pelicot online. He claimed Pelicot had asked him to take part in a scenario in which his wife would “pretend to be asleep”. He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to nine years. He alleged he had taken MDMA on the night he visited the Pelicot’s in October 2020, He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to seven years. After experiencing abuse in foster care, the homeless father of four spent seven years living on the streets of Toulon. He has a total of 16 convictions, including two for domestic violence. He admitted to going to Pelicot’s home in August 2018, but insisted “I didn’t go there intending to rape”. He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to 11 years. In court, he said he could not remember raping Gisèle, claiming he was drugged by Pelicot, which Pelicot denied. “I know I’m going to come across as either a liar or an idiot,” he told the court. The father-of-six was the only defendant Gisele recognised because he lived next door. Once, Pelicot invited him to come to their house to see Gisèle, under the pretext of selling him a bike tyre. Pelicot “manipulated me and I fell into his trap,” Mekenese said in court. The nurse, who was addicted to masturbation, went to Mazan in June 2019 while his wife was away in Morocco for two months. He claimed Dominique Pelicot had told him that his wife would pretend to be asleep. The father of three from northern Paris was accused of visiting Mazan in August 2020. He also faced charges for the possession of over a thousand pieces of child pornography and some zoophilic images. He was sentenced to 12 years. He is also banned from working with children for life. The divorced father of two was accused of visiting the Pelicot’s home six times between March and June 2020. He admitted to knowing Gisèle was drugged, saying he was astonished that any defendants claimed they were unaware.  He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to 13 years. Longeron was the first of the co-accused to visit the Pelicot home on 14 March 2014, when he was 23. He denied rape, claiming he believed he was taking part in a consensual scenario. “As long as the husband was present, there was no rape,” he told the court. He is already serving a 14-year prison sentence for rape, violence and harassment of three other women. He was found guilty of aggravated rape and child abuse imagery and sentenced to six years. A few months after his divorce in 2020, Parisis went to Mazan after meeting Pelicot in the Coco chatroom. He was found guilty to aggravated rape and sentenced to eight years. Coullet was accused of visiting the Pelicot home in October 2019 and again in January 202o. Gisele walked out of the courtroom when he claimed his participation was “was for the couple, to satisfy them”. He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to ten years. The married father of two, whose wife left him, claimed he went to Mazan for a homosexual relationship in January 2019. Aron, who went to Mazan in March 2018 after meeting Pelicot online, also claimed he had visited hoping for a homosexual encounter. He told the court he did what Pelicot told him to because he was waiting for their own sexual liaison. He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to six years, which he will serve in a special prison due to health issues. The pensioner is the oldest defendant on trial and the court heard he had been a swinger and regularly used prostitutes. He alleged he was tricked and would not have taken part if he did not believe Gisèle had consented. He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to six years. A Skype exchange with Pelicot proved that Sebaoui knew Gisèle was drugged when he asked: “Is the sleeping pill working?” He cried as he was sentenced to ten years for aggravated rape and having child abuse imagery. Gasps were heard in the courtroom when the Moroccan-born pensioner insisted: “I’m as much a victim as (Gisèle) is.” He was accused of raping the grandmother while the Pelicot’s were on holiday at her daughter’s holiday home on the Île de Ré in May  2019. The former soldier was described Pelicot as the “most complicit” of all the co-accused after he visited their home in Mazan six times between 2015 and 2020. Culieras has eight previous convictions, mainly for theft, and told the court he visited Mazan in November 2017 to regain self-confidence after intestinal surgery. Daoudi admitted visiting Mazan in October 2018 but claimed he left when he realised Gisèle was asleep, apologising in court. He was sentenced to eight years. Beaubis visited Mazan in November 2018 after sending pictures to Pelicot online. He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to nine years. The plumber has been in a relationship for 30 years and has three daughters and five grandchildren. The court heard he registered with the Coco site because he was having “less intercourse” with his wife. The father of four has previously been convicted of domestic violence, along with aggravated theft and violence. He first came to Mazan in March 2019 and later returned in April. He then demanded money from Pelicot in exchange for his silence. In February 2020, Nicolle went to the Pelicot home in Mazan “for a threesome,” he claimed. He admitted that Pelicot had warned him that his wife was taking pills. Asked if he considered informing the police, he told the court he did not think he would be believed, adding: “I didn’t feel like wasting my time at the police station.” Serviol had seven convictions for theft, traffic offences and drug use. He plunged into a deep depression following the death of his premature daughter and visited Mazan in June 2017. Dallal’s partner waited for him in the car while he had sex with an unconscious Gisèle. He initially tried to suggest it was not him in the videos of assaults at the Pelicot’s home in Mazan in January and March 2018, before later admitting all charges. He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to eight years, suspended due to medical issues and requirement for special prison. The father of four visited Mazan twice, in February 2018 and March 2019. He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to ten years. The father of three has nine criminal convictions for driving without a licence, group theft and drug use and concealment. He claimed he had been told he was taking part in the Pelicot “couple’s fantasy” when he visited Mazan in December 2019. Hennebert is suspended from duty as a guard at Le Pontet prison in Avignon and has been working as an ambulance driver. He went to Mazan in November 2019. In court, he admitted to all the charges against him. He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to seven years. The court heard how Pelicot ‘presented’ Gisèle to Vandevelde without her knowledge in a supermarket encounter. Despite being HIV positive, he abused her six times without using a condom between December 2019 and June 2020. She didn’t contract HIV, though she was found to have other sexually transmitted diseases, a medical expert testified. He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to 15 years. Convicted several times for drink driving, Venzin first came to the Pelicot home in 2016 and went a second time in 2018 after connecting with Pelicot online. Douiri has worked cleaning buses in Avignon for the past ten years. He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to eight years. Blemeur was accused of raping Gisèle at her daughter’s home near Paris in December 2019. He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to seven years. Ghabi was found guilty of sexual assault, but acquitted of rape and attempted rape. He received a three year sentence. He told the court there was no penetration when he visited Mazan in November 2019. Ouamou was tried in absentia after he fled France during the investigation. He already has 13 convictions between 2010 and 2017 for theft, acts of violence, and also weapons and drugs offences. He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to 12 years, although he has told investigators he has no intention of returning to France. Grovogui admitted visiting Mazan once, in broad daylight, in 2016 after making contact with Pelicot on the Coco website. He admitted the charges. He told the court: “I was young, I went there, excuse the term, for fun. I trusted this gentleman.” In court, he told Gisele “I was your rapist… I was your tormentor” as he admitted the charges. He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to 12 years. Cocca was not charged with rape, but denied sexually assaulting the grandmother after meeting Pelicot for a threesome in June 2020. Video of the encounter shows him touching Gisèle on the buttock as she slept. He left when he heard her snoring, but failed to call the police. He was found guilty of aggravated sexual assault and sentenced to three years. The freelance told the court each morning he would log on to the Coco website to find a sexual partner. Video of his visit to Mazan in January 2018, which he claimed he thought would be a homosexual encounter, showed his failed attempt to have sex with Gisèle. François was found guilty of aggravated rape and having child abuse imagery. He was sentenced to eight years and banned from working near children. The 62-year-old weight-lifter told the court: “I didn’t know that a finger was rape.” He was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to five years, of which two are suspended. A worker at a transport company, Moulin went to Mazan in January 2020. He had responded to a proposal from Pelicot for candaulism – a sexual practice or fantasy in which a man exposes his female partner, or images of her, to other people for their pleasure. The married father of two daughters told the trial his body, not his brain, committed the assault and denied rape. He was also accused of possessing child porn after Skype exchanges revealed plans for sexual relations with underage girls. He was found guilty of aggravated rape but acquitted of having child abuse imagery. He was sentenced to nine years. The qualified hairdresser has eight previous convictions, including for domestic violence and trying to abduct his child with a former partner. He told the court: “I’m not a rapist. Why would I go and rape a 66-year-old woman?” He said the October 2020 sexual encounter was his ‘bachelor party’ after marrying a young woman in Tunisia. Arbo was 22 when he went to the Pelicot’s home for the first time in January 2016. He returned five more times between December 2018 and June 2020. It was alleged that Pelicot gave him three sedatives in order to drug his mother, but Arbo insists he threw them away. Police found very small traces of sedatives in a sample of his mother’s hair, but he has not been charged with drugging her. would have been disturbing enough just as the story of an epically vile husband But perhaps there are even more puzzling and horrifying questions about the other men How can there be so many men willing to rape an unconscious woman Over the past five weeks of the trial, which began on Sept. 2 in Avignon, the five judges—and aghast onlookers from around the world—have had the chance to hear from several of Dominique Pelicot’s 50 codefendants, most of whom have been charged with aggravated rape It would be comforting to think that there are more psychopaths and sexual deviants in that part of France than elsewhere But most of the accused are unremarkable men with no criminal record who say they are not guilty of rape Many have offered similar rationales for their behavior: they didn’t think it was nonconsensual They thought they had license to have sex with Mrs but still claimed he was innocent of the charge a 37-year-old unemployed agricultural laborer who is accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot on New Year’s Eve in 2018 A 40-year-old computer expert with two university degrees had a similar excuse for his alleged crime in June 2020 “I did not go there with the aim of committing a crime,” he said If we take these men at their word—and there are certainly reasons not to—they genuinely believed that if a husband allows someone to have sex with his wife Given that Dominique Pelicot fooled many people who have said they had always thought theirs was a happy family it’s plausible that the men thought they were dealing with a normal spouse who had an unusual kink that means they also thought that husbands can grant access to their wives’ bodies What does it say about society that men still accord husbands this kind of authority If it were a woman’s brother or father or cousin and a wife invited women to commit a lesser violation such as stealing a husband’s car and taking it for a joyride while he slept in the backseat claiming that her spouse enjoyed the adventure of waking up in a strange place would the women have gone ahead without checking in with the husband first addressed those women during her testimony on Oct She noted that she didn’t used to think her husband was a rapist either “A rapist is not just someone you meet in a dark car park late at night,” she said “her husband said I could” has been a common theme in their testimonies probably because their lawyers see it as the strongest legal defense they have even as much as the psychopathic behavior of Dominique Pelicot that is sending a chill down many women’s spines This recognition of how vulnerable women are not just to husbands who have ill-intent but to a community that holds husbands in such an exalted position that it does not question fundamentally sketchy situations if the man of the house is present nobody has come forward to say they went to the Pelicots’ house and left in horror Police have produced no reports from visitors who realized something was amiss and raised the alarm Pelicot was unmasked only because he was caught photographing up women’s skirts by a security guard in 2020 and the cops found a cache of pornography on his devices including videos of his wife in a folder marked “abuse.” There are no hero men in this story except for those whose job it is to unearth crime If not for her determination to make this case public and her willingness to waive anonymity it might have attracted very little attention Perhaps this case adds to the list of possible reasons why The institution has become caught between two very different societal expectations marriage is still viewed as a hierarchical power structure rather than as an agreement between two equals to throw in their lot together marriage no longer offers a robust assumption of monogamy A wedding ring has less and less power as a repellent to other men’s sexual approaches.  people hold Victorian ideals about the power in a marriage but 1970s notions about the willingness of all people to be responsive to all sexual desires at all times The combination of these two beliefs is uniquely treacherous for women When people believe that a husband calls the shots in marriage and can persuade themselves that anyone is available for sex in any situation it leaves wide open the door for wives to be predated upon There’s scant stigma attached to being single very few husbands are as diabolical as Dominique Pelicot and not all men are potential rapists but one of marriage’s benefits for women used to be a measure of security: not just from poverty or physical attack If marriage no longer makes women feel safer maybe that's one more reason to go it alone Contact us at letters@time.com Yet they are all on trial charged with rape — 50 in all — accused of taking turns on the drugged and inert body of Gisèle Pelicot while her husband recorded the horror for his private video library The unprecedented trial in France is exposing how pornography chatrooms and men’s disdain for or hazy understanding of consent is fueling rape culture The horror isn’t simply that Dominique Pelicot it is that he also had no difficulty finding dozens of them to take part Among the nearly two dozen defendants who testified during the trial's first seven weeks was Ahmed T — French defendants’ full last names are generally withheld until conviction The married plumber with three kids and five grandchildren said he wasn’t particularly alarmed that Pelicot wasn't moving when he visited her and her now-ex-husband's house in the small Provence town of Mazan in 2019 It reminded him of porn he had watched featuring women who “pretend to be asleep and don’t react,” he said many other defendants told the court that they couldn’t have imagined that Dominique Pelicot was drugging his wife and that they were told she was a willing participant acting out a kinky fantasy telling the court his co-defendants knew exactly what the situation was For the first time since early in the trial Gisèle Pelicot spoke Wednesday about her husband’s “immeasurable” betrayal mothers and sisters of his 50 co-defendants “You have chosen the depths of the human soul.” a spokesperson of the feminist group Osez le Féminisme! said she is convinced that many of the men on trial were inspired or perverted by porn Although some sites have started cracking down on search terms such as “unconscious,” hundreds of videos of men having sex with seemingly passed out women can be found online Piques was particularly struck by the testimony of a tech expert at the trial who had found the search terms “asleep porn” on Dominique Pelicot's computer French authorities registered 114,000 victims of sexual violence But experts say most rapes go unreported due to a lack of tangible evidence: About 80% of women don’t press charges and 80% of the ones who do see their case dropped before it is investigated nature and openness to the public at the victim’s insistence After a store security guard caught Pelicot shooting video up unsuspecting women’s skirts in 2020 police searched his home and found thousands of pornographic photos and videos on his phone Dominique Pelicot later said he had recorded and stored the sexual encounters of each of his guests and neatly organized them in separate files who testified that when he left home on the night of Oct “I thought she was asleep,” the 36-year-old transportation worker told the panel of five judges who has attended nearly every day of the trial and has become a hero to many sexual-abuse victims for insisting that it be public “I grant you that you did not leave with the intention of raping anyone,” the prosecutor told him Like a few of the other men accused of raping Pelicot between 2011 and 2020 acknowledged almost all of the facts presented against him even if admitting that it might get him a lighter sentence That led prosecutors to ask the court to screen the graphic videos of Mahdi D.'s visit to the Pelicot home authorities took down the chatroom where they say Dominique Pelicot and his co-defendants met it has resonated far beyond the Avignon courtroom's walls sparking protests in French cities big and small and inspiring a steady flow of opinion pieces and open letters penned by journalists It has also drawn curious visitors to the city in southeastern France who made the trip from Switzerland to witness the “historical trial.” said she was disturbed by the testimony of 43-year-old trucker Cyprien C. answered that he “did not contest the sexual act.” The defendant stood silently before eventually responding Arata then began to describe what was on the videos implicating him They are only shown as a last resort and on a case-by-case basis such detailed descriptions can last several minutes and be just as heavy as watching them has chosen to remain in the courtroom while the videos are shown Experts and groups working to combat sexual violence say the defendants’ unwillingness or inability to admit to rape speaks loudly to taboos and stereotypes that persist in French society a judge and general secretary of the National Consultative Commission of Human Rights who isn’t involved in the trial popular culture has given people the wrong idea about what rapists look like and how they operate “It’s the idea of a hooded man with a knife whom you don’t know and is waiting for you in a place that is not a private place,” she said noting that this “is miles away from the sociological Two-thirds of rapes take place at private homes It can be difficult at times to reconcile the facts with the personalities of the accused — described by loved ones as loving Cyril B.’s tearful older sister told the court: “It’s my brother He’s not a mean person.” His partner insisted that he isn’t “macho” and that he had never forced her to do anything sexually that she wasn’t comfortable with Lafourcade said that unlike the #MeToo accusations that have ensnared French celebrities the Pelicot case “makes us understand that in fact rapists could be everyone.” they’re not monsters — they’re not serial killers on the margin of society They are men who resemble those we love,” she said Become an NPR sponsor Dominique Pelicot has been jailed for 20 years for drugging his then wife and inviting men to rape her – and 50 men were found guilty alongside him Fifty men went on trial alongside Dominique Pelicot in connection with the drugging at the culmination of a months-long trial in the southern French city of Avignon they were convicted and received sentences of between three and 15 years Over a nine-year period from 2011 to 2020 in the village of Mazan in Provence Dominique Pelicot crushed sleeping tablets and anti-anxiety medication into his then wife’s food and invited dozens of men to rape her while she was unconscious The 50 men convicted of rape and assault alongside Dominique Pelicot are aged between 26 and 74 Most lived in south-eastern France within a 40-mile (60km) radius of Mazan Six had previous convictions for domestic violence and two had convictions for sexual violence A total of 23 had a criminal record for offences such as drunk-driving and possession of drugs Some of the accused men admitted rape but said they had not set out with this intention a grandmother and former logistics manager saying they had believed they were taking part in a game by the couple Pelicot admitted the charges against him and said that for almost a decade he had been in contact with men on an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge” where he would organise for strangers to come to the couple’s home like the others in this room,” Pelicot told the court during the trial The case was heard by a panel of five professional judges and ran until 19 December when the verdicts and sentences were announced Gisèle Pelicot had waived her right to anonymity in order for the trial to be held in public A courtroom sketch of Gisèle Pelicot and her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot during the trial in Avignon Photograph: Valentin Pasquier/APCyrille Delville Delville was found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot in her home in September 2019 and sentenced to eight years in prison He said he had been sexually frustrated in his relationship and had gone on to the online chatroom to console himself saying he had realised later that he had not gained Gisèle Pelicot’s consent He said Gisèle Pelicot was clearly unconscious but that her husband was “insistent” an idiot.” He told the court that while in prison on remand he had understood that “women do not belong to men” Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer said video evidence showed that the rape by Delville put her life in danger as she risked not being able to breathe Delville detailed a violent childhood at the hands of his alcoholic father who he said would wait outside school with a meat cleaver to attack him and threaten him After a brutal public beating by his father outside school Delville was placed into care as a teenager A worker at the Pelicots’ local supermarket in Carpentras Rodriguez was a married father of three when he made contact with Dominique Pelicot He admitted raping Gisèle Pelicot at her home on 2 December 2018 but said he had not intended to commit rape “Since I never obtained Mrs Pelicot’s consent I have no choice but to accept the facts,” he told the court I can only imagine the nightmare you’ve lived through … and I am part of this nightmare.” He said: “I never told myself ‘I will rape that woman’,” but he admitted: “I’m guilty of rape.” He added that he should have left when he saw that she was unconscious and that it was cowardly of him not to have said anything The court heard that Dominique Pelicot had previously brought an unsuspecting Gisèle Pelicot shopping at the supermarket so that Rodriguez could see if he was attracted to her Rodriguez was found guilty of rape and sentenced to eight years in prison Rodriguez told the court he had been sexually abused between the ages of 12 to 13 by the president of the pétanque club in his village Co-defendants arrive at court in Avignon on 10 September Photograph: Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty ImagesJacques Cubeau 72A former fire officer who had worked as a truck driver and then owned a pizzeria Cubeau had been married for 25 years and had two children He was found guilty of rape and sentenced to five years in prison He said he had been “naive” and thought that Gisèle Pelicot would wake up and it was a game by the couple Cubeau admitted touching Pelicot but said there was no penetration and therefore no rape Cubeau told the court he considered that his religious education had made him a “giving person” who did good and respected women He said he loved women “in all their complexity” A former lorry driver for an agricultural cooperative in southern France Maréchal was not accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot he was found guilty and sentenced to 12 years for using the same technique to drug and rape his own wife and organising for Pelicot to rape her with him Described in court as a “disciple” of Pelicot Maréchal told the court that he admitted the charges Pelicot admitted raping Maréchal’s wife on several occasions and said he regretted his actions He said he cut contact with the couple after Maréchal’s wife woke up during one of the assaults while he was in her bedroom The court heard that Maréchal’s childhood in the French countryside was marked by poverty and he was a victim of sexual abuse within his family “I was raised by pigs in the woods,” he had told his children Kawai was the youngest man on trial and was on Thursday found guilty of rape and sentenced to 10 years in prison He was 22 at the time of his rape of Gisèle Pelicot on two separate visits to her home in 2019 and 2020 He told the court: “I’m a rapist because the law says I am,” but he said he had not intended to rape and “at the time I did not know what consent was” He said he was invited to the couple’s home by Dominique Pelicot for an encounter and did not ask for Gisèle Pelicot’s consent saying he learned only in prison what consent was Kawai said he had found it strange that Gisèle Pelicot was snoring and he knew she was unconscious but had not known this meant she had not consented Kawai was absent for the premature birth of his daughter on the night he was accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot for the first time in November 2019 he had joined his brother in Avignon when he was 16 before enlisting in the army The court heard he had lived on the streets as a teenager and three of his brothers had died He was described by a psychologist as a chronic user of alcohol and cannabis A court sketch of Dominique Pelicot talking into a microphone. Illustration: Siegfried MaheHugues Malago, 39A tiler, motorbike enthusiast and father of two, Malago was convicted of the attempted rape of Gisèle Pelicot a few days before his then girlfriend’s birthday in October 2019. He was sentenced to five years in prison. Malago had denied the charge. He said he had not known that Gisèle Pelicot had been drugged and did not look at her face, just her body. His ex-partner Emilie O, 33, who had met him online and lived with him for five years, told the court she feared she may have been drugged and sexually assaulted by him herself. “I don’t know if I was raped,” she said. “It’s terrible. I will always have doubts.” She told the court that one night in 2019 she woke up to find her partner attempting to assault her. She launched a police complaint but it was dismissed for “lack of material evidence”. She told the court she experienced “dizziness” between September 2019 and March 2020 but investigators did not detect any substances that might have affected her at the time. A married father who had given up part-time work to care for his disabled son, Dogan was found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot in June 2019. He was sentenced to nine years in prison. Dogan had denied the charge in court, saying: “I don’t accept being called a rapist, I’m not a rapist.” The court heard that Dogan made contact with Dominique Pelicot in the chatroom and went to the Pelicots’ home the same night, telling his wife he was going out. Read morePelicot had told him he was looking for an “Arab” man for his wife He admitted that Gisèle Pelicot “seemed dead” but he said he had thought it was a scenario or game and that she was pretending He said Dominique Pelicot had said his wife was in agreement He said he had not known she had been drugged The court heard that Dogan had become addicted to cannabis from the age of 11 and had lived in children’s homes In 2000 he was convicted for dealing drugs who had 16 previous convictions ranging from armed robbery and drug dealing to domestic violence and sexual assault of a minor was on Thursday given another for the rape of Gisèle Pelicot in August 2018 Sotton had admitted the charge but said he had not gone to the Pelicots’ home with the intention of raping her adding that he had “not paid attention” to whether or not she had consented He said he wasn’t interested in a scenario where a woman was unconscious because he liked to hear women scream The court heard that Sotton raped Gisèle Pelicot in her dining room Dominique Pelicot said he had put drugs in her meal and carried her unconscious to the dining room table The court heard that Sotton had been sexually abused by his father from the age of two then placed in different foster families where he faced further violence and sexual abuse and that he was admitted to psychiatric care at the age of 16 From 18 to 28 he lived on the streets in Toulon as an alcoholic The father of two had worked as baker for 25 years before having to leave his job because of an intolerance to wheat He was found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot with Dominique Pelicot on 3 October 2020 and sentenced to seven years in prison saying he was high on MDMA at the time and thought it was a game with a married couple He accepted later that Gisèle Pelicot had not been in a fit state to consent The court heard that Dartus’s stepfather had been violent He told investigators he was inspired by Buddhism and “the balance of karmas” A silent march in Mazan to support Gisèle Pelicot and other female victims of violence Photograph: Manon Cruz/ReutersAndy Rodriguez 37An unemployed agricultural labourer and married father of two Rodriguez had two domestic violence convictions and on Thursday was found guilty of the attempted rape of Gisèle Pelicot Rodriguez had told the court: “As the husband had given me permission Rodriguez arrived at the Pelicots’ home an hour after first making contact online with Dominique Pelicot on New Year’s Eve He said he had “nothing else to do” that night because his brothers hadn’t invited him to their New Year’s Eve party He said he had thought it was a sexual “game” between the Pelicots The court heard he had been addicted to alcohol since he was 13 or 14 and was a regular user of cocaine Mekenese lived on the next street to the Pelicots in the village of Mazan and was found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot Mekenese was the only one of the defendants whom Gisèle Pelicot recognised when she was shown video evidence by police She told the court Mekenese had come into their living room once to discuss cycling with her husband “I saw him now and then in the bakery; I would say hello I never thought he’d come and rape me,” she said The former mountain infantryman made contact with Dominique Pelicot in the online chatroom before realising they lived less than 200 metres apart Mekenese lived opposite the tennis club where Dominique Pelicot played an encounter to calm myself,” Mekenese told the court Dominique Pelicot suggested Mekenese first come to the house during the day “to see how beautiful my wife is” Mekenese was found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot on the night of 14 November 2018 saying he had thought she was only pretending to be asleep and would wake up His ex-wife told the court he had once threatened her with an axe As a teenager he was abused and raped by a man his parents had sent him to live with as a labourer The court heard he had a complex about his penis size and needed constant reassurance He had debts and had had periods of alcoholism He has a 15-month-old daughter with his current partner A demonstration in support of Gisèle Pelicot and victims of rape in Place de la République in Paris Photograph: Apaydin Alain/Abaca/Rex/ShutterstockThierry Postat 61A refrigeration specialist and father of three from Bouches-du-Rhône in southern France Postat was convicted of rape and the possession of child abuse images and handed a 12-year prison sentence Hundreds of images were found on a USB stick after his arrest on suspicion of the rape of Gisèle Pelicot on 21 August 2020 He admitted charges over the images but denied rape He said he hadn’t seen anything abnormal about the night he went to the Pelicots’ home believing he was meeting a couple “I always thought Mrs Pelicot would wake up,” he said He said he had not sought Gisèle Pelicot’s consent because he had lots of experience of encounters with couples when it was mostly the man who gave consent for the woman He said he had had three “major” previous experiences where a husband had invited him to have sex with a wife and “she’ll be asleep In two cases he had left without seeing the women’s faces He said he couldn’t tell if those women had been asleep or not I’d like to create an association to get men like me to understand that consent is important I’d go to swingers’ clubs and say: ‘Don’t forget to get consent.’” The former grocery store worker and father of three was one of the few on trial to have admitted the charges of raping Gisèle Pelicot with the knowledge that she had been drugged He told an expert psychiatrist in the case that he had been aware she had not consented He was convicted by the court on Thursday of rape and sentenced to 13 years in prison Vilela went to the Pelicots’ home six times between March and June 2020 He told the court: “I didn’t keep going back because rape mode was my thing but because I couldn’t control my sexuality.” He said he was at first attracted by the idea of having an inert body at his disposal and being free to act however he wanted He said his life was defined by sexual urges he was regularly unfaithful to partners because they “couldn’t meet my demands” and he had tried extreme practices to break the “monotony” He said he had paid “less and less” attention to his partners Vilela said he was addicted to sex and that Pelicot took advantage of that he said he was ashamed “to have done bad to someone who seems so pure” His current partner told the court she stood by him and visited him regularly in prison He said he had never been supported or protected by his parents He had been bullied at school and once forcibly stripped in public by other pupils at high school A former builder who turned to alcohol when his 18-year-old son died in a road collision Parisis was found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot and sentenced to eight years in prison He had been an inpatient on a psychiatric ward and suffering from depression when investigators identified him as a suspect in 2020 Parisis had separated from his wife a few weeks before his rape of Gisèle Pelicot in July 2020 and had left his family home later saying he had been unable to bear the photographs and memories of his son He said he contacted Dominique Pelicot online for an encounter with a couple saying: “I didn’t set out from my house saying ‘I’m going to rape someone’.” He said: “I don’t understand how she didn’t feel anything didn’t realise.” He said he thought Dominique Pelicot may have drugged him and that he had been manipulated and brainwashed by Pelicot His ex-wife told the court the rape was out of character She said she would like to get back together with him The court heard that Parisis’s mother had an alcohol dependency and his father had often been absent A former building site manager from Carpentras Longeron was convicted last year of the rapes of three former partners in a different trial and is serving a 14-year jail sentence On Thursday he was found guilty of the rape of Gisèle Pelicot in March 2014 and was sentenced to six years in prison He said he had thought he was taking part in a game and had not thought Gisèle Pelicot had been drugged Aged 23 at the time of the rape of Gisèle Pelicot He was educated at private school before joining his father’s successful building business and was described as coming from a higher-income background than many of the other men accused He told the court that when he was 21 he discovered after a paternity test that he was not the biological father of the three-year-old girl he was raising with his girlfriend He said from that point onwards “I had a hatred towards women” his new girlfriend was nine months pregnant; she gave birth 10 days later He admitted to court experts that he had mistreated his pregnant girlfriend and called her a whore The court heard that he had been sexually abused by a cousin when he was 10 A former roofer born on the French Indian Ocean island of Réunion Tirano was convicted of rape and sentenced to eight years in prison Tirano had been in a nine-year relationship when he drove for two and a half hours from Lyon to rape Gisèle Pelicot in her bed on the night of 21 September 2018 He had made contact with Dominique Pelicot in the chatroom He told the court: “I am not a rapist.” He said he thought Dominique Pelicot had drugged him In court he recalled many details of the evening But he told the court he had no memory of the moment of his rape of Pelicot and recalled only getting into his car afterwards when he drove home Judges observed that he did appear drugged in seven videos in which he was active and gave a thumbs-up sign He said at the time he had thought: “It was a bad encounter The court heard he had regularly sought encounters with couples for more than a decade and had paid sex workers but said “it felt dirty” A former anaesthesia nurse in hospital operating theatres in Morocco He was found guilty of the rape of Gisèle Pelicot at her home on a Saturday night in June 2019 and sentenced to eight years in jail El Farihi had told the court he was not guilty saying he was a “victim of a trick” and had been too “terrified” of Dominique Pelicot to say no Confronted with video evidence of several rapes of Gisèle Pelicot but you can’t see it.” He said he did not leave because he feared it would ruin Pelicot’s Saturday night He said he had not known Gisèle Pelicot was sedated he had not seen that Gisèle Pelicot was unconscious he said he had thought she was pretending to be dead “but never that she’d been drugged” A former factory worker and video club owner from the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Aron admitted the charge of raping Gisèle Pelicot but said he took part reluctantly because he was gay and had wanted an encounter with Dominique Pelicot He was convicted of rape and sentenced to six years in prison Aron met Dominique Pelicot in the online chatroom and they messaged on Skype where Pelicot told him Gisèle Pelicot was a “prudish bitch who didn’t want threesomes” and said: “I’m looking for a pervert accomplice to abuse my wife she takes sleeping pills and I take advantage.” Aron replied: “OK.” He told the court he had wanted so much to have a gay encounter with Dominique Pelicot that he was blinded by it and brainwashed He said he raped Gisèle Pelicot “reluctantly” to “please” Dominique Pelicot He questioned whether he may have been drugged “You are homosexual but you have committed a heterosexual rape “In this trial we have already heard of rapes committed ‘by accident’; your specificity is to plead rape committed ‘reluctantly’.” He told the court he had known he was gay from his teenage years but sought to hide it from his homophobic parents and after divorcing at 43 regularly met men for sex in saunas and the backrooms of sex shops in the Avignon region A former long-distance lorry driver and divorced father of two Sambuchi said he went to Dominique Pelicot’s house “exclusively for a homosexual encounter” with him He was found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot on 30 January 2019 telling the court he had thought she was pretending to be asleep he said he had had no intention to rape Gisèle Pelicot and was simply following her husband’s instructions it’s your husband,” he told Gisèle Pelicot in court had logged on to the chatroom at 8pm one night and two hours later went to the Pelicots’ home The court heard that Sambuchi had been raped when he was 16 A computer expert with two university degrees Sebaoui was found guilty of rape and of possession of child abuse images He had denied raping Gisèle Pelicot on 27 June 2020 and possessing the images saying he had downloaded them “inadvertently” Sebaoui told the court that on the night he went to the Pelicots’ home “I did not go there with the aim of committing a crime and I had absolutely no idea that Mrs Pelicot was not consenting.” Messages between him and Pelicot showed them discussing Gisèle Pelicot in crude terms referring to her not being aware of what was going on Sebaoui had been told that Gisèle Pelicot would be “asleep from alcohol and a sleeping tablet” but he said he had thought it was a game Sebaoui said he feigned food poisoning as an excuse because the June encounter had been “too bizarre for me” He grew up in Marseille and had moved to a picturesque village half an hour’s drive from Mazan just before the Covid lockdowns of 2020 A courtroom sketch of Dominique Pelicot in court on 11 September was convicted of raping Gisèle Pelicot at her home on two occasions in October 2019 and January 2020 Coullet had a previous conviction for domestic violence against an ex-partner in 2021 for which he was given a six-month suspended sentence The court heard he had had an alcohol addiction since he was a teenager admitting to a sexual encounter but saying he had had no intention of committing rape adding that he had not put much thought into it He said he found the situation in the Pelicots’ bedroom “bizarre” but trusted the fact that he was “at a couple’s home He said he felt no pleasure himself but went back a second time because Dominique Pelicot told him that he and Gisèle Pelicot had “enjoyed it” Pelicot said Gisèle Pelicot had watched a video of his first visit and “liked it” which for him “closed the door on any doubt” He said he felt he had “satisfied” the Pelicots more than himself Gisèle Pelicot got up and briefly left the courtroom Describing himself as a former “international truck driver between Paris and Baghdad” the divorced grandfather is the oldest of those convicted in Avignon He was found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot in May 2017 and was sentenced to six years in prison He said he had always thought that rape was “something violent … done by a madman and that this encounter had instead been a “sexual game” He told the court he had only “obeyed orders” from Dominique Pelicot He said: “She was going to wake up because it was a game.” It was only after he left the house that he thought about whether Gisèle Pelicot had consented “I should have done but it didn’t cross my mind.” whom he had met beforehand in a supermarket car park told him he wanted to “punish” his wife for having had an affair in the past He said Pelicot asked him to come back another time “with a friend” after mentioning it to another truck driver who said it wasn’t normal Leloup said he had often paid sex workers in Spain “What truck driver hasn’t been to prostitutes?” he said in court was handed a 13-year prison sentence for raping Gisèle Pelicot on six different occasions Police found video evidence of five visits to the Pelicots’ house and he told them of one further visit Davies said he was contacted via the chatroom in February 2015 by Dominique Pelicot who said he was looking for a man as a “gift” for his wife “for Valentine’s Day” He told the court: “I didn’t wake up one morning and say to myself: ‘Hey today I’m going to go to a couple’s house and commit a crime’.” He said that before going to the Pelicots’ home for the first time in 2015 he asked to see Gisèle Pelicot and was sent a video of her taken without her knowledge as she left the shower He also briefly visited the home pretending to be an electrician and saw Gisèle Pelicot reading on the sofa He said he felt he had enough guarantees from Dominique Pelicot adding: “I just forgot one big guarantee – Madame’s consent.” He is the youngest of 16 children and was placed in care at the age of six months a former discotheque worker from La Rochelle who in 1999 was sentenced to five years in prison for raping his 17-year-old daughter was sentenced to eight years in prison for the rape of Gisèle Pelicot at the holiday cottage of the Pelicots’ daughter telling the court: “I couldn’t imagine for a fraction of a second that Dominique Pelicot did that without his wife knowing.” He had been in contact with Dominique Pelicot via the online chatroom Dominique Pelicot was asked in court why he had drugged and raped Gisèle Pelicot not just at the couple’s own home but at their daughter’s holiday home where the Pelicots often went with their grandchildren The couple’s daughter and grandchildren were not at the cottage at the time a plumber and former champion boxer married for more than 30 years with three children was found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot at the couple’s home in June 2019 He had denied rape and told the court: “I’m not a rapist but if I had wanted to rape I wouldn’t have chosen a 57-year-old woman He had been in contact with Dominique Pelicot on a chatroom and said that at the time he was having less sex with his wife and he “did not want a mistress” but thought “why not” have an encounter with a couple He said Dominique Pelicot referred to Gisèle Pelicot as “la bourgeoise” saying she was away a lot in Paris and home at weekends He said he had thought Gisèle Pelicot must be shy Tbarik said he travelled to the couple’s home by car after his wife had gone to bed Gisèle Pelicot exits court after a hearing in her ex-husband’s rape trial Photograph: Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPARedouane Azougagh separated father of four who had convictions for domestic violence burglary and death threats and had served time in prison was found guilty of rape and sentenced to nine years in prison Azougagh went to the Pelicots’ home twice in 2019 and he said he asked Dominique Pelicot if it was normal that Gisèle Pelicot was snoring He described the Pelicots’ home as “a beautiful house in Provence” with a “well-kept garden” began smoking cannabis at 10 and was a victim of sexual abuse at that age by an old man he had met in the park who took him to his van The question was raised in court of a possible diagnosis of schizophrenia with one psychiatrist saying instead that Azougagh had a personality disorder a transport worker and father of one from Avignon was found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot in October 2018 and sentenced to eight years in jail He placed the responsibility on Dominique Pelicot who he said had presented himself online as part of a couple who wanted to meet single men Daoudi said of Gisèle Pelicot: “One can’t imagine what she has been through she has been destroyed and I have thoughts not only for that poor woman but her whole entourage and family.” He said it had been “terrible” for him to find himself caught up in something like this a lorry driver who described himself as a daily consumer of cannabis was convicted of raping Gisèle Pelicot at her home in November 2018 and sentenced to nine years in jail He was recorded by Dominique Pelicot in a video called “With Cyril from Carpentras” Beaubis denied rape and said he had been manipulated and was not capable of committing a rape He said he was also a victim of the situation as he had been duped by Dominique Pelicot He told the court he had previously had encounters with couples he met via websites was found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot in her bed in Mazan in 2017 he accepted that a sexual encounter took place and said he was sorry to Gisèle Pelicot but that he could “not say more than that” He told the court: “I can’t say that it’s rape,” arguing that Dominique Pelicot had led him to believe that Gisèle Pelicot was playing a role in a game and “would pretend to be asleep” The court heard that he grew up in children’s homes and foster families and had suffered from alcohol addiction as an adult A prison warden who had previously worked as a junior member of the motorway police Hennebert was convicted of raping Gisèle Pelicot in her bed in November 2019 Hennebert said he had sold drugs on the website where Dominique Pelicot sought men to abuse his wife and said Dominique Pelicot told him he had a female “friend” who “had a fantasy about playing the sleeping woman” he realised “something wasn’t right”; Gisèle Pelicot hadn’t been moving Asked why he did not call the police then and there worked as a warden in the prison outside Avignon where Dominique Pelicot was held after his arrest When he read newspaper reports of the detention he knew that sooner or later “police would come knocking at my door” Hennebert said he had “wanted for nothing” during his childhood in northern France with parents who worked in the public sector but that gambling on sports betting sites had later caused him financial difficulties He had recently begun retraining as a member of an ambulance team A court psychologist said he had a “psychopathic personality”; another expert psychiatrist disagreed A painter and decorator with seven convictions ranging from possession of drugs to driving offences Serviol was found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot in June 2017 when she had been drugged unconscious He said he had believed Dominique Pelicot’s assertion that his then wife liked to “make love while drunk” He told the court that when he arrived in the Pelicots’ bedroom it’s not really worth it,” but Dominique Pelicot told him to go ahead he said: “Your husband manipulated me and I know he manipulated quite a few people here.” She looked away smoking between 10 and 15 joints a day and was struggling with the loss of his baby daughter at seven months’ pregnancy due to a heart defect He said he had been afraid of Dominique Pelicot despite video evidence showing him smiling The court heard that Serviol’s father was in prison when he was a small boy a fact his parents tried to hide by lying and saying the building in which he visited him was a hospital When Serviol was jailed on remand in the Pelicot case he told his stepson of the same age the prison was a building site and he was working there as a painter A slogan painted on a wall in Avignon reading: ‘Gisele women thank you.’ Photograph: Manon Cruz/ReutersFlorian Rocca 32A delivery driver previously convicted of nine offences including driving without a licence Rocca was convicted of raping Gisèle Pelicot in December 2019 and sentenced to seven years in prison saying he had thought it was a “consenting game between three people” He made contact with Dominique Pelicot online and a few hours later went to the couple’s home out of curiosity He said he had drunk a bottle of whisky that day “I did not leave my house with the intention to commit a rape,” he said Towards the end he noticed there was a “bizarre atmosphere” in the room and he felt afraid told the court that when she heard the charges against her son “I wondered: did I get something wrong in the way he was raised Rocca told the court he did not know his biological father La admitted raping Gisèle Pelicot in her bedroom on two occasions in 2018 knowing she had been drugged unconscious At first he had thought Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had consented on her behalf and that therefore “it wasn’t against the law” He told a psychologist after his arrest that he had thought the definition of rape was instead something that “happens in the street” in the style of “if you don’t want it told the court her mother was ill at the time and she had refused sex She said: “I think because I refused him all the time said La’s wife was not responsible for her husband’s actions “There is never an obligation to have sexual relations with your husband The court heard that Dominique Pelicot had suggested drugging La’s wife so they could both rape her “I told him I’d think about it just to please him The court heard that La had fled Vietnam by boat with his mother as a child and had lived in refugee camps before coming to France Nicolle has described himself as a “jovial” guy who once trained youth football teams He was found guilty of rape and sentenced to eight years in jail it was a game.” Despite video evidence in court showing Gisèle Pelicot in an unconscious state Nicolle claimed he did not notice she was sedated when he went to the couple’s home in February 2020 He said he told Dominique Pelicot at the end of the visit: “Your wife looks like she’s really asleep.” Dominique Pelicot replied that he gave his wife pills and would also take her to motorway laybys and “hand her to men” Nicolle said he called Dominique Pelicot “sick” and then left he said: “I didn’t want to waste my time at the police station I’m a humble neighbourhood electrician … who would have believed me?” A care worker who became Nicolle’s girlfriend 16 months ago while knowing he was charged with rape in the Pelicot case told the court: “He treats me like a princess.” A courtroom sketch of defendants in court in the trial’s final week 47A former canteen worker who has had a stroke since his arrest saying he went to the Pelicots’ home twice and raped Gisèle Pelicot when she was in a comatose state he asked his then girlfriend to drive him to the Pelicots’ village and wait for him in the car for an hour She told the court she had driven him because she was worried about him driving drunk She had thought he was meeting a couple for a sexual encounter but had not sought details She described Dallal as someone who “drank morning was found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot on six occasions over six months between 2019 and 2020 and was sentenced to 15 years in prison saying Dominique Pelicot “invited me in” and that a husband’s consent had been enough despite video evidence showing him smiling as she snored loudly He said he first went to the Pelicots’ home because “I felt lonely Christmas was approaching and I was going to be on my own again Vandevelde told the court he had known he was HIV positive at the time of the rapes and had not worn a condom His lawyer said that because he had been on HIV treatment since his diagnosis in 2004 The court heard that Vandevelde had been subjected to such extreme physical violence and abuse by his parents that it amounted to “torture” A software technician who used to run a record shop in Avignon Grassot was found guilty of rape and of possessing child abuse imagery Grassot raped Gisèle Pelicot at her home in October 2017 The court heard that he also procured sedatives from Dominique Pelicot with the aim of drugging his girlfriend at the time He had written a message to Dominique Pelicot about his girlfriend saying: “My dream is her getting raped on the way home from work.” He had shown Pelicot where his girlfriend lived Grassot said he did not use the sedatives but that having them in his possession “gave a feeling of power” He said that when he went to the Pelicots’ home “my sexuality was already twisted … the deviance was already there” The court heard that at the age of 13 he was raped by an uncle Ouamou was tried in absentia for raping Gisèle Pelicot in her bedroom in March 2018 an international warrant for his arrest was issued He was sentenced by the Avignon court to 12 years in prison The court heard that Ouamou had received 13 convictions between 2010 and 2017 in connection with theft Dominique Pelicot told the court he remembered Ouamou coming to the Pelicots’ home A former soldier in the French foreign legion who later became a restaurant manager in Corsica Venzin was unemployed when he went to the Pelicots’ home twice He was found guilty of the rape of Gisèle Pelicot and sentenced to nine years Venzin had denied rape but in court he changed his position and said it was not possible to deny the facts of what had happened He said: “I have always said that I did not intend to rape anyone.” He told the court he felt tricked by Dominique Pelicot and had believed he was going to have an encounter with a consenting couple with “fantasies” He said that at the time he was under the impression that Gisèle Pelicot was consenting but in court he recognised she had not been in a state to consent yes.” He apologised in court and said: “Today The warehouse worker was found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot one night between Christmas and new year in 2019 when the Pelicots were on holiday at their daughter’s home in the Paris area Blemeur said he recognised that a sexual encounter took place but told the court he had had no intention to rape “What I did was not premeditated,” he said He told the court he was a regular cannabis user and said he had been afraid of Dominique Pelicot’s reaction if he left the bedroom He said he was a “collateral victim” of Dominique Pelicot who he said had used him to enact his fantasy sent Dominique Pelicot a message about potentially meeting up again if he was in the area The court heard that as a child Blemeur was a victim of a notorious sex offender a fire service captain convicted of drugging and raping boys who were young volunteers who was sentenced to 15 years for those offences A married mechanic who worked cleaning buses in Avignon Douiri was convicted of the rape of Gisèle Pelicot at her home in November 2017 and was sentenced to eight years in prison He made contact with Dominique Pelicot in a chatroom hours before the rape and said the older man told him what to do and he did not ask questions Asked by a judge if he had been concerned that Gisèle Pelicot appeared unconscious and did not react he said: “It was my first threesome and I didn’t know how it worked.” He said he did not remember if he had looked at Gisèle Pelicot’s face Asked by Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer if he accepted that what he did was rape Douiri arrived in France at the age of two who told the court he would like to train as a pastor was found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot at her home one lunchtime in 2016 after Dominique Pelicot had drugged her at breakfast He said that at the time he had not seen it as rape because he was young (23) and wanted to “have fun” without much thought He said that after he was shown video evidence by police Born in Guinea to parents who worked as a midwife and a pastor Grovogui arrived in France as an unaccompanied minor aged 16 he has previous convictions in France for theft and forgery The long-distance lorry driver was accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot but was found guilty of the lesser charge of sexual assault for which he was handed a three-year prison sentence Ghabi admitted what he called “attempted rape” but denied that a rape took place He told the court: “I recognise that I did not get Madame Pelicot’s consent I am totally conscious of the seriousness of the facts … But for me I’m here for Madame Pelicot to know the truth.” The court heard he grew up in Tunisia and arrived in France aged 15 He said he had an “addiction to social networks and the internet” and would go on websites for meeting partners simply out of “boredom” A vineyard worker who later packed lorries for a cement company Arbo spent part of his childhood in the village of Mazan where the Pelicots lived He raped Gisèle Pelicot on six occasions between 2016 and 2020 and on Thursday he was sentenced to 13 years in prison Arbo and Dominique Pelicot were accused of raping her in her bed on the night of her 66th birthday saying: “I was told it was a scenario in which she was asleep I didn’t want to rape her; I didn’t want to do something bad to that family.” Video evidence showed Arbo discussing drugging and raping his own mother with Dominique Pelicot who had asked him if there was another woman in his entourage who he would like to rape or see raped Arbo said he suggested his own mother “because it was the only woman who came to mind” He said he never intended to go through with it and kept making excuses Dominique Pelicot gave Arbo three sedative tablets wrapped in silver foil in order for him to sedate his mother explaining that he should crush them into her food A court psychiatrist said Arbo’s “very intense use of pornography” from his early teenage years – including pornographic cliches about mothers and older women – had played a role in his objectification of women A fire officer who said he had “spent 40 years of my life saving people” Lescole was identified from the top half of the fire service uniform he wore during his rape of Gisèle Pelicot in her bed in January 2019 He was given a prison sentence of nine years despite video evidence showing him fully active and giving a thumbs-up to the camera He said that in his extensive experience on the swinging scene it was always the man who organised things and made an approach on behalf of the wife He said Dominique Pelicot was a predator who hadn’t “respected the rules” Questioned by Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyers on the need to always ask for consent he said: “If no one trusts anyone any more we’ll end up having to ask for written authorisation on a piece of paper.” who likened his idyllic southern French childhood to a novel by Marcel Pagnol denied separate charges of possessing child abuse imagery and was acquitted of those charges on Thursday A trained hairdresser who had also worked as a builder and delivery driver Hamida was found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot in October 2020 and was sentenced to 10 years in jail He said he went to the Pelicots’ home for a sexual encounter to celebrate the end of his bachelor days and his wife-to-be was arriving imminently from his native Tunisia He told the court: “I arrived at a house with a pool and a garden; I never would have thought it was a rapist.” He said Dominique Pelicot said that his wife “liked that” and he trusted him He said he now thought he too had been drugged by Dominique Pelicot: “I had red eyes He said: “I’m not a rapist … Why would I rape a woman aged over 60?” who has previous convictions for domestic violence had been in contact with Dominique Pelicot during the afternoon and went to the house a few hours later who had been arrested and questioned by police for filming up women’s skirts in a supermarket a month earlier contacted Hamida just after leaving a court-ordered appointment with an expert psychiatrist A freelance journalist for several local newspapers in the south of France François had also worked in town hall press offices He was found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot in her bed in January 2018 and also convicted of possessing child abuse imagery François said he had logged into the hook-up website Coco “every morning” to try to “find a sexual partner” and made contact with Dominique Pelicot there He said he went to the Pelicots’ home with the intention only of having a homosexual encounter with Dominique Pelicot despite video evidence showing him on a bed with Gisèle Pelicot He said he had shown a “lack of discernment” and should never have gone through the door A retired sales manager who was a karate coach for the police for 25 years Cocco said he was experienced on the swingers scene and had often met couples who invited in another man He was found guilty of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot and sentenced to three years in jail Cocco went to the Pelicots’ home in June 2020 He said there was no talking and he heard her snoring and asked Dominique Pelicot what was going on Cocco called on several police officer friends as character witnesses at the trial who said he was “respectful” and a decent man One told the court: “I can spot liars and he isn’t one.” who worked at a transport company in Avignon was convicted of the rape of Gisèle Pelicot at her home in January 2020 and sentenced to eight years in prison He said he went to the Pelicots’ home after Dominique Pelicot told him online that he was looking for a man for his wife two lines of cocaine and several glasses of whisky When he arrived he thought Gisèle Pelicot was drunk He told the court he wasn’t sure if Dominique Pelicot had drugged him too “You go into that house and you’re lobotomised,” he said Moulin said his life had changed completely when he was 27 and had a road accident while returning from a night out drinking A gardener who had worked as an electrician and plumber Leleu lived with his mother and described himself as shy He was single and said he regularly paid for sex He was found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot in her bed in June 2018 and sentenced to five years in prison He said he had posted a message on the website Coco saying: “Seeking saucy lady.” Dominique Pelicot had replied Leleu said that when he got to the house it was a “bizarre scenario” He said: “I lost connection with my brain.” He said his genitals were “where my brain should have been” The court heard that Leleu had discovered in his 30s that he was born after his mother was raped aged 15 by a rugby player The horrific court case in France is changing the way the media report this crime Dominique Pelicot is on trial in France accused of drugging and filming his then wife recruited through a now-defunct chatroom called Against Her Knowledge Fifty other men aged between 26 and 74 are also on trial for their alleged involvement Detectives were unable to identify and trace more than 30 other men who were recorded whom illness may prevent appearing in court this week has been called “the Monster of Avignon”; as yet there is no sobriquet for the many locals who reportedly visited the house in the village of Mazan “These people knew exactly what they were doing… They treated me like a rag doll.” Pelicot told the court that her calm demeanour masked “a field of devastation” She is a one-woman challenge to the many myths that surround rape and obscure the reality that in a misogynistic patriarchal society such as the UK, less than 3% of rapes result in charges, much less a conviction the End Violence Against Women coalition (EVAW) will publish a timely and important paper It is a guide for the media but it also has a wider relevance “How the media reports on violence against women and girls has real-life consequences shaping our collective attitudes and beliefs about this violence,” Andrea Simon “Poor journalism reinforces victim-blaming harmful stereotypes and attitudes that tolerate and normalise rape… good journalism can help tackle these attitudes and drive change.” Tranchese says that celebrities and successful white men accused of sexual assault and rape have also habitually been treated more gently in the media According to the CPS, only 0.6% of reports are false allegations, yet this is a subject that occupies the mediaSome attitudes to rape have changed. In January, the Crown Prosecution Service released its findings of research into public understanding of rape recognise it can still be rape if a victim doesn’t fight back and rape does happen within an intimate partnership But only 39% knew that most rapists know their victim Particularly concerning is “the alarming regression in young people’s attitudes”: 18- to 24-year-olds are more likely to peddle rape myths Media coverage of Andrew Tate and his brother Tranchese says the stereotype of “asking for it” in a short skirt has been replaced by doubting the credibility of the woman who has been raped According to the Crown Prosecution Service only 0.6% of reports are false allegations yet this is a subject that occupies the media Women don’t come forward because they don’t expect to be believed. The Independent Press Standards Organisation offers guidance on reporting sexual offences but does not “seek to limit the language that journalists can use” EVAW is rightly demanding “higher standards set by press regulators” “We know journalists often find themselves under pressure to produce high quantities of content in a way that drives engagement but we need media outlets to be motivated to do better,” Simon says implying doubt – could be replaced with the neutral “reported” And why write that those accused “vehemently” deny rape Thirty reported rapists, undetected, still walk free in Mazan and the surrounding villages, somebody’s husband, son, neighbour. Still Louis Bonnet, Mazan’s mayor, sought to diminish their crime; “People here say that repellent narrative should have run its course Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk This article was amended on 19 September 2024 to clarify that the definition of rape given relates to the law in the UK It was further amended on 23 September 2024 to correct the spelling of Pelicot This is the archive of The Observer up until 21/04/2025 The Observer is now owned and operated by Tortoise Media Tuesday World Subscribers only Israel prepares large-scale Gaza offensive to achieve lasting occupation World Subscribers only Romania enters government crisis amid election World Subscribers only In Zurich the leaf blower war or the anti-'woke' backlash World Subscribers only Germany's Friedrich Merz is embracing pragmatism World Subscribers only Founder of Sant'Egidio community fears next pope could undo Francis's legacy Opinion Subscribers only 'Russian gas and Europe is an old story that ended badly Economy Subscribers only Europe's steel industry flattened by crisis World Subscribers only How European countries plan to fund defense efforts France Subscribers only Detective tells court Kim Kardashian's robbers were 'a fine team France Subscribers only Macron announces citizens' convention on school schedules France Subscribers only 21 charged over French prison attacks as investigation narrows in on drug traffickers France Subscribers only French mosque stabber was driven by 'morbid fascination,' prosecutor says Videos World expos: From Paris 1855 to Osaka 2025 Videos How the Trump administration is attacking scientific research in the US Videos Tesla cars set on fire in Las Vegas as calls to boycott Musk's company grow worldwide Videos Can France's nuclear deterrent protect Europe Opinion Subscribers only John Bolton: 'The term chaos is commonly used to describe the top of the Defense Department' Editorial European call to aid foreign researchers is too modest Opinion Subscribers only 'The American dream is dying' Magazine Subscribers only Tracking down the pianos taken from French Jews during the Nazi Occupation Magazine Subscribers only Eve Rodsky the American helping couples balance the mental load Magazine Subscribers only Desecration or more glory Joan Didion's private diaries are revealed Magazine Subscribers only For Jewish cartoonist Joann Sfar 2025."> Pixels Subscribers only Golden Owl solution is revealed but leaves players of 31-year hunt disappointed Pixels Subscribers only Secrets of decades-long Golden Owl treasure hunt to be revealed Lifestyle Inside Chanel's French leather workshops Culture Subscribers only The marvelous bronzes of Angkor on display at the Musée Guimet in Paris a southern French town where Dominique Pelicot for years raped his wife drugged her and invited dozens of strangers to rape her while she was unconscious was accused of downplaying the victim's ordeal in remarks to the BBC The mayor of the French town where a man for over a decade brought strangers to rape his wife apologized on Friday for remarks that were criticized for playing down the ordeal of the victim told broadcaster BBC in an interview that "after all no one died" about the mass rape for which dozens of men are on trial They are accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot at the invitation of her then-husband Dominique Pelicot who drugged her first "It could have been far more serious," Bonnet told the BBC Bonnet's remark caused a storm of indignation on social media in France and beyond "People say I minimized the serious nature of the abject crimes of which the defendants are accused," Bonnet said in a statement posted on Facebook "I understand that people are shocked by these remarks and I am truly sorry." The mayor said his apologies were addressed "notably to women who were hurt by the clumsy words that were pronounced under the pressure felt in front of the microphone of a foreign media." Mazan and its 6,000 residents had been under "constant media pressure" since the start of the mass rape trial this month Dominique Pelicot has admitted to drugging Gisèle Pelicot into unconsciousness and inviting strangers to rape her She has become a feminist icon since refusing that the trial be held behind closed doors Lecture du Monde en cours sur un autre appareil Vous pouvez lire Le Monde sur un seul appareil à la fois Ce message s’affichera sur l’autre appareil Parce qu’une autre personne (ou vous) est en train de lire Le Monde avec ce compte sur un autre appareil Vous ne pouvez lire Le Monde que sur un seul appareil à la fois (ordinateur En cliquant sur « Continuer à lire ici » et en vous assurant que vous êtes la seule personne à consulter Le Monde avec ce compte Que se passera-t-il si vous continuez à lire ici Ce dernier restera connecté avec ce compte Vous pouvez vous connecter avec votre compte sur autant d’appareils que vous le souhaitez mais en les utilisant à des moments différents Nous vous conseillons de modifier votre mot de passe Votre abonnement n’autorise pas la lecture de cet article merci de contacter notre service commercial This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Get unlimited access to Le Monde in English €3.99/month A mammoth rape trial in France moved into a new phase Monday as prosecutors began to lay out the verdicts and punishments they want for dozens of men accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot while she was drugged and rendered unconscious by her husband A mammoth rape trial in France moved into a new phase Monday with prosecutors beginning to lay out the verdicts and punishments they want for dozens of men accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot while she was drugged and rendered unconscious by her husband After hearings stretching over nearly three months the trial in the southern city of Avignon is beginning to wrap up with the prosecutors’ summing up of the verdicts they want for the 51 accused FILE - Gisele Pelicot speaks to media as she leaves the Avignon court house Women demonstrate to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women as the trial of dozens of men accused of raping Gisele Pelicot while she was drugged and rendered unconscious by her husband goes on and Stéphane Babonneauat the palace of justice after a break Monday after the prosecutor asked for the maximum possible penalty for aggravated rape against Gisèle Pelicot’s now ex-husband Dominique Pelicot who was allegedly drugged by her now former husband so that he and others could assault her to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women Prosecutor Laure Chabaud asked the panel of judges for the maximum possible penalty for aggravated rape — 20 years — against the victim’s now ex-husband “Twenty years between the four walls of a prison,” she said The court is expected to deliver its verdicts by Dec has pushed for graphic images that her husband filmed of the rapes to be presented in the courtroom showing that she was unconscious and inert an ordinary woman,” said prosecutor Jean-François Mayet as he praised her courage and her desire to make shame change sides so it falls on rapists and not their victims He noted that Monday also marked the international day for the elimination of violence against women and said that France faces “a long path for our society to change its view of rape culture.” as the prosecutors detailed how Dominique Pelicot amassed and carefully catalogued a library of 20,000 photos and videos of the abuse that stretched over nearly a decade The evidence that he stored on hard drives memory sticks and phones led investigators to dozens of the men he recruited although about 20 others haven’t yet been identified All but one of the defendants are on trial for aggravated rape or attempted rape she said they treated her “like a rag doll “When did they ask the question of Madame Pelicot’s consent Members of the public who hoped to witness the proceedings and lined up outside booed some defendants as they entered the courthouse “We recognize you” and “Shame.” Banners that campaigners hung opposite the building read “20 years for each of them” and “a rape is a rape.” Gisèle Pelicot was greeted outside with cheers and applause because she’s really making a difference when it comes to feminism,” said Chantal Crémont a supporter who traveled from western France Prosecutors described the rapes one-by-one that Dominique Pelicot’s co-defendants allegedly committed on his unconscious wife and with his help and rules including that they not make loud noises and first warm their hands so as not to wake her up The defendants and alleged rapes are so numerous that the prosecutors were expected to take three days to summarize the evidence and detail the verdicts and sentences they want In the first cases that the prosecutors focused on Monday after requesting 20 years imprisonment for Dominique Pelicot they asked for sentences of 10 years or more for co-defendants also on trial for rape or attempted rape many defendants told the court that they couldn’t have imagined that Dominique Pelicot was drugging his wife and that they were told she was a willing participant acting out a kinky fantasy said the prosecutors’ request for the maximum possible penalty against him was justified “in view of the gravity of the facts and the seriousness of the acts of which he is accused.” “There’s no surprise in asking for 20 years But it’s still a shocking and heavy sentence for a man who’ll be 72 in a few days,” she said speaking in Paris at a center for women victims of violence said: “The French have been deeply touched by the incredible courage of Gisèle Pelicot AP journalist Sylvie Corbet contributed from Paris addressing her support 'to the unrecognized victims' of sexual violence Gisèle Pelicot thought of others before thinking of herself The main victim of the Mazan rape trial reacted to the verdict by speaking to all victims of sexual violence “I am thinking of the unrecognised victims I want you to know that we are sharing the same fight,” she said in a brief statement at midday “I am now confident in our ability to collectively seize a future in which everyone she answered a single journalist's question and reacted to the verdict in particular criticised by her children and feminist associations because of sentences that were less severe than expected while Dominique Pelicot was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison most of the other co-defendants received sentences that were lower than those requested by the prosecutor's office says she “respects” the decision of the Vaucluse criminal court A member of the Pelicot family had earlier told AFP that the couple's three children were “disappointed” with the “low” sentences handed down by the five professional magistrates of the court The article was originally published in ELLE France By DAVID JONES Dawn breaks mistily over Mazan and in a cobbled square three patients huddle outside a GP's surgery the man they have come to see steps jauntily out of his black Vauxhall Zafira with a leather bag slung over the shoulder of his anorak he could be any small-town French doctor arriving for his early morning consultations He has not been seen in the sensational court case fast-reaching its denouement in Avignon nor will he be called as a witness in the rape trial of the century Nor has Dr Daniel Turturica been interviewed by investigators for when police raided the hilltop surgery that he shares with his wife and seized the medical files of the chief defendant until I tracked down the Romanian-born GP and spoke to him last week he had managed to remain faceless and anonymous Yet the 369-page file presented to the court by the investigating magistrate reveals him to be an integral figure in the case For it was this local doctor whom Pelicot – feigning chronic insomnia – duped into prescribing the tranquilisers that he used to render his wife so that strangers could sneak into their house and rape her In truth, Pelicot suffered from sleep apnoea, a condition that would have made it dangerous for him to take the sedatives he secretly fed to her: zolpidem and lorazepam, an anti-anxiety drug branded Temesta in France. However, he kept this from Dr Turturica and for years deceived the doctor into prescribing him hundreds of these benzodiazepines, which he stockpiled and crushed into Gisele's evening meals. Thereafter she slid into unconsciousness and her husband welcomed strangers into her bedroom to rape her. David Jones talks to Dr Daniel Turturica outside his surgery in the town of Mazan David Jones tracked down the Romanian-born GP and spoke to him last week  So these powerful pills served as Pelicot's evil elixir: as vital, in his chosen form of chemically induced rape, as a knife is to the brutal sex attacker who sets upon his victim in some darkened back-alley. Without obtaining them freely, in huge quantities, he could not have sent Gisele into such a deep coma that he was able to carry her to bed, remove her nightclothes and garb her in lingerie for the rapists' twisted pleasure, all without her knowing. Without these pills she would surely have woken up as the men who violated her – 50 of whom are now on trial – treated her like a rag doll. She was so deeply asleep when one man attacked her that he thought she might be dead. Pelicot has also admitted giving some of the drugs to three of the rapists so that they could abuse their partners in the same way. It follows, then, that the doctor who prescribed this despicable man with the most crucial weapon in his armoury sits at the heart of this grim story, unwitting as his role may have been. Had Pelicot been on trial in Britain, the court might well have decided to overrule Dr Turturica's right to medical confidentiality, given the gravity of the charges. His professional body might also have required him to account for his actions – for in parts of the court file it is claimed that this doctor acted unlawfully in prescribing zolpidem for so long by way of a repeat prescription. This 'Z-family' sleeping pill is highly addictive and the French medical authorities state that it should only be dispensed for 28 days without a fresh consultation. But on March 3, 2020, investigators allege, Dr Turturica signed off three boxes of the drug to Pelicot, and his prescription was renewable three times, which 'was not legally possible', investigators claim. They also allegedly found proof that the doctor wrote Pelicot scripts for at least 780 Temesta pills, at the maximum strength of 2.5mg, but they have extrapolated that he might have received as many as 1,520 of these tablets. Dr Turturica issued the first prescription on October 8, 2013, just six months after the Pelicots – then in their early-60s – moved from the Paris region to their retirement chalet in Mazan. He handed out Pelicot's final prescription on October 28, 2020, six weeks after he was arrested for taking mobile phone photos up women's skirts in a grocery shop, prompting the investigation that revealed him to have been drugging and filming his wife being raped. Dominique Pelicot used tranquilisers to render his wife, Gisele, unconscious, so that strangers could sneak into their house and rape her Gisele Pelicot was the victim of her husband's crimes for years - he would stockpile the tranquilisers and crush them into Gisele's evening meals Additionally, Dr Turturica was found to have given Pelicot 193 Viagra pills at a strength of 100mg – five times the recommended dose. As we now know, he used these to boost his libido before joining in the attacks. Investigators say that Pelicot's medical records did not explain why these drugs were dispensed. When questioned, he told them Temesta had been recommended to him as a strong and reliable sedative by a nurse, whom he met in one of the perverted chatrooms where he recruited men to abuse Gisele. Toxicology tests using strands of his hair established that he hadn't taken the sleeping drugs himself. However, when samples of Gisele's hair were analysed, she was found to have ingested them in dangerously high doses. When Pelicot was interviewed by investigators for the first time, he admitted to crushing ten Temesta tablets into her food before the rapes were perpetrated: a dose of 25mg. Experts from France's National Institute of Scientific Police (INPS) say this 'massive intake' could have proved fatal. Mindful, perhaps, that his admission had laid him open to even more serious charges, Pelicot subsequently revised his story, claiming he had drugged Gisele with only three Temesta tablets at a time. He therefore felt he 'had not put her life at risk'. Whatever the truth, it might have assisted the court to learn more about his acquisition and use of these drugs – some of which were found hidden in one of his walking boots in the garage – from the man who prescribed them. As this landmark trial is awakening France to the spiralling prevalence of chemical rape, and prescription drugs are being used in many of these attacks, Dr Turturica's testimony could also have been in the public interest. Instead, we are left with the brief exclusive interview he allowed me last week, when I approached him at his surgery. The clear purpose of this was to exonerate himself. In the immortal words of French songstress Edith Piaf: 'Je ne regrette rien.' 'Yes, M. Pelicot was my patient and came to my surgery for his problem [insomnia] but for such a request we don't have the possibility to check whether it's genuine,' he said, his Romanian accent still heavy after 30 years in Mazan. 'If someone comes and says they have a sore throat, how can I know whether that's true? If someone asks for sleeping pills, I can't verify whether he has insomnia or not. 'I'm obliged to prescribe medication in the doses recommended. Insomnia is generally chronic and can last for many years. The prescriptions were within the valid limits. Zolpidem is not limited in time. No, no! It's not illegal.' He paused and shrugged. 'Anyway, if I don't prescribe [these drugs] he just gets them from a psychiatrist or someone else. It might be a case in a million – or 30 million – where someone uses medicine for this purpose. It's unique.' The Pelicots' home in the village of Mazan in France. It has been branded a 'house of horrors' While Dr Turturica has not appeared in court, among Mazan's 4,000 residents – who are served by only three family doctors – his involvement in the case is well known. How, then, do locals in this insular little town regard him? Kindly and respectfully, he assures me, nonchalantly remarking that some of the people who attend his surgery have relatives among the 50 accused rapists. Dr Turturica's online 36 patient reviews are decidedly mixed and his rating is only 2.5 stars out of five, below those of Mazan's other two doctors, one of whom gets top marks. 'Makes you wait for an hour to tell you in 30 seconds that he can't help you,' writes one patient, Salome Richaud, who consulted the doctor when suffering depression because she couldn't conceive. Now recovered and the mother of a baby boy, Ms Richaud, 24, tells me the doctor suggested she should 'adopt an animal' to ease her suffering. She refused to pay his fee. However, an anonymous new patient praises Dr Turturica as an 'old school doctor' who 'takes the time to listen'. Another says that while he can 'seem a little cold at first' he has always been 'a big help'. Whatever his pluses and minuses, he certainly proved very helpful to Dominique Pelicot. Before he hurried away, I asked him whether he thought it strange that a self-proclaimed insomniac in his mid-60s had also requested fistfuls of super-strength Viagra. With a disquieting grin he replied: 'Excuse me, it's not necessary to have sex at night. It's possible during the day.' As Pelicot's lawyer, Beatrice Zavarro, told me during a court recess on Thursday, in French law Dr Turturica's right to silence prevented the parties in this case 'going after him'. But in any case, she would not have done so, because it would not have helped her case. Mme Zavarro lays no blame at the doctor's door. 'It's not a question of irresponsibility,' she said. 'These drugs were not compatible with Dominique Pelicot's sleep apnoea. 'He [Dr Turturica] didn't realise that – and he didn't try to find out. But a doctor can't guess if a patient doesn't tell them.' The prosecution file states that, under questioning by investigators, Pelicot 'affirmed that the doctor had not been his accomplice'. Nobody has suggested such a thing. Nonetheless, the ease with which he was deceived concerns Dr Bernard Arbomont, president of the Vaucluse department Ordre des Medecins, the body that oversees the department's doctors.  'I did ask myself the question as to how this gentleman procured the medicine,' he told the Mail, affirming that under French guidelines zolpidem should only be prescribed for four weeks without the patient being re-examined. But he said the task of monitoring doctors for possible over-prescribing fell to CPAM the social security organisation that manages French health expenses and in Pelicot's case it appeared not to have been flagged up 'This is not a frequent occurrence – but I think that unfortunately it was not an isolated case,' Dr Arbomont said worryingly adding that where doctors were reported to his organisation they would be called to account there are those who believe that ought to have happened here 'I don't know how Pelicot got past the doctor It's incomprehensible,' said an 80-year-old woman named Aline who regularly sits in the court overflow room with dozens of onlookers including sexual abuse victims and campaigners 'Normally this type of medical professional is very vigilant I think this aspect of the case should be investigated.' Assuming Dr Turturica's records are accurate Madame Pelicot attended his surgery just once during her seven years in Mazan Given that her body and mind were slowly being destroyed by her husband's pills we might wonder why she didn't consult him more often Perhaps she simply preferred to see a different doctor but as the abuse wore on and her condition worsened Totally losing her memory for protracted periods descending into robotic trances when dining with friends afraid to drive or even catch a train unaccompanied she feared she was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and was inexplicably diagnosed with four sexually transmitted diseases when a sharp-eyed security guard spotted Pelicot pointing his phone up the skirts of female shoppers Gisele Pelicot is possessed of enormous courage and strength But who knows how long she would have survived had her plausible husband continued to dupe his doubtless well-meaning The comments below have not been moderated By posting your comment you agree to our house rules Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy The Mail on Sunday & Metro Media Group By NICK PISA and NICK FAGGE IN AVIGNON 26 September 2024 | Updated: 14:29 BST these men are accused of taking part in the repeated rape of a drugged woman at her husband's command - in a case which has horrified the world lifestyles and social standings the seven revealed here appear to otherwise have little in common – but are bonded together by a shared compulsion for sex with a stranger in the most disturbing circumstances That stranger was Gisele Pelicot, 71, who was routinely sedated without her knowledge by her depraved husband Dominique at their retirement chalet in Mazan, a quiet village in the shadow of Mont Ventoux, in Provence in Southern France The group are motorcycle worker and sometime racer Hugues Malago retired marine fire-fighter Jacques Cubeau supermarket manager turned IT worker Lionel Rodriguez The seven are part of a wider group of some 50 men who were recruited online by Dominique Pelicot and invited to his house to rape his wife after she had been rendered unconscious with powerful sedatives was routinely sedated without her knowledge by her depraved husband Dominique at their retirement chalet in Mazan Dominique Pélicot is accused of recruiting men online to assault his wife repeatedly over 10yrs Pictured: Supermarket manager turned IT worker Lionel Rodriguez Pictured: Painter and decorator Husamettin Dogan Pictured: Retired marine fire-fighter Jacques Cubeau Pictured: Motorcycle worker and sometime racer Hugues Malago a local businessman who is accused of raping Gisele Pelicot The seven are all accused of having come to the Pelicots' retirement chalet by arrangement with Pelicot Instructed to leave their cars in a nearby football stadium car park whose ages range from as young as 23 to as old as 70 would then creep into the tranquil close and into the couple's home to fulfill their warped urges Dominique Pelicot instructed each man to undress completely before entering the bedroom where his wife of 50 years lay unconscious in their matrimonial bed the trial in Avignon has heard man after man claim that Pelicot had 'tricked' them into taking part in his twisted fantasies of the rape and humiliation of his wife - many of which were filmed Pelicot delighted in watching strangers like these men abuse his wife and made home movies and took pictures recording the gruesome scenes - a record which was only discovered when he was finally caught in September 2020 Last week Pelicot stood in the dock and admitted his guilt - and accused all his co-defendants of each having been willing conspirators He told the court: 'I am a rapist - like everyone else in this room.' who has allegedly drugged and raped his wife Gisele Pelicot appears during his trial with 50 co-accused at the courthouse in Avignon Rape trials in France are usually held in private with names of victims and perpetrator kept out of the public domain – to maintain the accuser's dignity But with the courage that has characterised a case which has provoked outrage across France Gisele Pelicot waived her right to anonymity Their trial has heard how Pelicot gave some of his alleged accomplices fond nick-names and made flippant comments about their appearance the pet name he gave to motorcycle racer Hugue Malago This week Malago told the court in Avignon how he met Pelicot on an internet site used by swingers Malago told the court how he had started seeking threesomes with swinging couples in a bid to achieve an adrenaline high suggesting that this behaviour only started after he was injured in a motorcycle crash in 2012 Malago's partner – who left him after he was arrested for aggravated attempted rape – told police Malago had always been very demanding sexually and was only uncovered after the man was caught up-skirting women in a local supermarket Rodriguez told the court that he only agreed to go to Pelicot's house and have sex with his wife because he had 'nothing else to do on New Year's Eve' He said: 'I never had any intention of raping Mrs Pelicot.' who Pelicot claimed had 'failed to satisfy his wife' the 53-year-old father-of-three maintained he had 'no recollection' of the several hours he spent at the Mazan house as he had taken several tablets of ecstasy He told the court: 'I'm not saying that I did not do what is shown in the video Pelicot dismissed Dartus' claims of innocence saying: 'He knew very well why he was there.' A retired marine fire-fighter who is the oldest of Madame Pelicot's abusers is among a small minority of defendants who have pointedly apologised to the courageous grandmother Mr Pélicot depicted appearing at the courthouse in Avignon on September 11 But last week he turned to her in court and said: 'Madame 'Having participated in all of this destroyed me Lionel Rodriguez - no relation to co-defendent Andy Rodriguez said his wife had left him after news of his involvement in the case broke and he then turned to Mrs Pelicot and said: 'I never wanted to hurt you but I did it's horrible to think I am part of this nightmare Dogan – nicknamed 'Karim' by Pelicot in his meticulously-kept records - portrayed himself as a victim who had stripped naked and put on a condom before he even entered the chalet broke down in tears of self-pity and insisted he had believed he was taking part in a consensual sex game he replied: 'That's something else - she was his wife Parisis is accused of raping Madame Pelicot at her home in February 2020 When he was first arrested his partner described him to police as 'sensitive and respectful' and said she was horrified to learn of the accusations against him - but it later emerged he had a secret life as a sexually adventurous bisexual that she knew nothing about. Pelicot has been charged with raping and murdering a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris in 1991 has described her mother's ordeal as 'the worst sex case for the past 20 years.' The previous case she was alluding to was the unearthing of the systemic abuse of almost 50 children by a group of adults which included their own parents and grandparents a generation ago in the town of Angers around the turn of the millennium the publicity around the Pelicot case and the horror it has provoked has arguably eclipsed it Among the wider group of accused are a paramedic The comments below have been moderated in advance Shelagh Fogarty is Leading Britain's Conversation The daughter of a man accused of drugging his wife and inviting men to rape her has said he is "one of greatest sexual predators of all time" Dominique Pelicot, 71, is accused of organising for strangers - aged between 26 and 74 - to come to his home in the French village of Mazan, near Avignon, to rape his wife, Gisele Pelicot. A total of 51 men are on trial and are being tried alongside Dominique Pelicot Now on the fifth day of the trial, the court heard daughter Caroline Darian, 46, was also herself secretly photographed naked by her father, the Mirror reports. Her two sister-in-laws were also photographed while taking a bath at the same family home in Mazan Ms Darian is convinced that she was also routinely drugged so her father could defile her The photos taken of her were in a file named ‘Around my daughter naked’ - apparently showing Ms Darian asleep A teary Ms Darian recalled seeing the two images for the first time Read more: Wife drugged by husband and 'raped by dozens of men' says she was 'assaulted by HIV-positive suspect' Read more: Pictured: Teen accused of stabbing 15-year-old Elianne Andam at bus stop revealed as suspect turns 18 but the police officer pointed out a brown spot on her cheek I discovered myself and I understood that the man who was my father my father had photographed me without my knowledge She added: "How do you rebuild yourself from the ashes when your father is undoubtedly one of the greatest sexual predators of recent years?" Ms Darian was followed into the witnesses box by her sister-in-law said police confirmed to her that there were naked photos of her in the bath as well as similar images of another sister-in-law "Where will these photos be when I'm dead?’ asked Ms Pélicot humiliating shots were taken in the most intimate room." Who did he [Dominique Pélicot] send them to Why did he [Dominique Pélicot] look at me like that?" The trial started on Monday and is expected to run until December A security agent caught her husband taking photos of women's crotches in a supermarket leading investigators to search Dominique Pelicot's phone and computer They found thousands of photographs and videos of men appearing to rape Ms Pelicot in their home while she appears to be unconscious Gisele Pelicot detailed to the court the horror of discovering that her former spouse systematically filmed the suspected rapes by dozens of men - storing thousands of images that police investigators later found "It's unbearable," she said "I have so much to say that I don't always know where to start." she left her husband after police showed her some of the images everything collapses," she told the court "all that was left for me of 50 years of life together." I don't know if I'll ever rebuild myself." Prosecutors have claimed that the abuse started when the couple lived in Paris Pelicot took part in the rapes and encouraged the other men using degrading language The men accused of taking part in the mass rapes include a journalist They ran the gamut from single to married to divorced Because Dominique Pelicot videotaped the alleged rapes police were able to track down - over a period of two years - a majority of the 72 suspects they were seeking Several defendants are denying some of the accusations against them the defendants will appear in small groups before a panel of five judges psychiatrists and computer experts will also give evidence See more More Latest News See more Latest News See more The News Explained See more Royals See more Highlights & Opinion See more More Topics The 72-year-old is relieved but takes ‘no satisfaction’ in seeing other families broken up It took just over four years, and 67 days in court, but Gisèle Pelicot is said to feel “relieved and appeased” about the judges’ decision to convict all the men accused of raping or sexually assaulting her while she was drugged and unconscious. Read moreAfter a final declaration that she “respected” the sentences handed down in Avignon her lawyers said she was now “absolutely exhausted” and glad the marathon trial was over “She is relieved, really relieved, that all the accused were convicted for what they did to her and she was relieved she managed to reach the end of this very long and painful process,” her lawyer Stéphane Babonneau told the Observer “In the beginning she said to us ‘if I last two weeks it will be good’ it has been a fight for her every single day and many times she felt she wanted to leave I would say she is at peace with the fact the verdicts acknowledge that she was the victim of all the accused.” Babonneau, who has been immersed in the grim case since taking it on in 2022 added: “From Gisèle Pelicot’s point of view there is no sentence that will give her back what she has lost She will never feel comforted or somehow compensated by the fact that 50 families have been broken up for Christmas There can be no satisfaction for her in that “All Gisèle Pelicot wanted is to have the accused convicted for what they did to her she respects the decision of the court and finds no solace in them.” The 15-week trial ended on Thursday when Pelicot’s former husband Dominique was given the maximum 20-year sentence for drugging her strangers into their home in the Provençal town of Mazan to rape her The court found all 50 co-accused guilty of sexual offences – 47 of rape two of attempted rape and two of sexual assault – and sentenced them to between three and 15 years believes she could have been raped more than 200 times between 2011 and 2020 although lower than those requested by the public prosecutor were “intelligent” and that the five judges had handed down personalised judgments for each case A woman holds a placard reading in French “all women on earth support you thank you Gisele” as people gather outside the courthouse in Avignon Photograph: Clement Mahoudeau/AFP/Getty Images“What was important for Gisèle Pelicot was that all the accused were condemned; that they were all judged responsible for what they did to her and she was not a victim for nothing The convicted men now have 10 days to appeal which could lead to a new trial held with a jury as opposed to the professional magistrates who judged the Avignon case Babonneau said Gisèle Pelicot was ready to attend any trial “She has told us she will be there,” he said a lawyer involved in the historic rape trial in Aix-en-Provence in 1978 that led to a change in French law praised the Avignon court for adding “legal social sanctions” to their sentences obliging those convicted to undergo medical treatment for a number of years “I’m convinced prison is not the place to make perverts aware of their perversity and even less to put them back on the path of a [normal] sexual life,” she said there is a major risk that it feeds and cultivates it.” Free newsletterA digest of the morning's main headlines from the Europe edition emailed direct to you every week day The French government is now facing calls to introduce the concept of “consent” into French rape law – an issue that divides women’s organisations but even without consent it worked in our case,” he said “We should reflect carefully about adding to the law and make sure any change throws light on the abuser Lawyer Isabelle Steyer said it would be months before she expected to see whether the issues raised in the Pelicot trial had brought any change “I plead in a rape case every week and I haven’t seen any change in the culture of rape so far,” she told the television channel BFMTV Gisèle Pelicot will now spend Christmas with her family and friends before deciding whether to become more active in the campaign for better treatment of rape victims she said she wanted every woman who suffered sexual assault to look at her ordeal and to know “you are not alone” In taking the unusual decision to allow the press and public into the trial Gisèle Pelicot became an icon for women everywhere giving feminism a new slogan: “Shame must change sides.” she is exhausted and wants to rest and have a bit of anonymity for a few weeks,” Camus said but I’m sure she won’t spend her days making jam The battle she has fought so well has given some sense to what she has suffered She will now think how her personal story might be more widely useful.’ Babonneau added: “She has been invited everywhere in the world and she needs to take some time and distance to think about whether to do that or to return to relative anonymity and say ‘I have done my part’ complete anonymity is something she will never get back I can survive anything now,” Babonneau said referring to the date on which Gisèle Pelicot learned that her husband arrested for filming up the skirts of women in a supermarket had been abusing her and inviting strangers to do the same “She has a very positive attitude and this is how she has faced what happened to her Even at her lowest point she told us ‘I looked to the future otherwise I felt I would be swallowed by a dark place and could never live’.” He added: “I have had the privilege of being with her every day She is orientated towards the future and thinking it will be better and full of positive things “What she is doing is a legacy for the future She doesn’t want to be seen as an icon or someone extraordinary.” GalleryTwo days before the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women over 400 organizations and public figures called for demonstrations against violence against women in France on Saturday will be International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women at the trial of the dozens of men who are accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot while she was drugged by her husband without her knowledge the prosecution will start delivering its closing arguments These words will be listened to attentively as the trial has become symbolic of the fight against sexual and gender-based violence against women Photographer Adrienne Surprenant attended the rally against violence against women held outside the Gare du Nord in Paris on Saturday She followed the procession to interview demonstrators about what the so-called "Mazan rapes" trial meant to them Nine of Dominique Pelicot's 50 co-defendants have testified claiming that they had been 'manipulated' and did not realize that the victim was unconscious due to the drugs her husband was secretly administering By Henri Seckel Defendants arrive at the Mazan rape trial in Avignon on September 10 CHRISTOPHE SIMON / AFP Fabien S: "I was manipulated." Joan K: "Yes there was manipulation." Jacques C: "I've been fooled that's for sure." Hugues M: "I trusted too much." "We fell into a trap," said Husamettin D asserting without hesitation on the stand on Wednesday I'm a victim." These were Dominique Pelicot's co-defendants speaking before the Vaucluse criminal court in Avignon attempted rape or sexual assault on Gisèle Pelicot – the 50th is still at large – have been heard They did their utmost to convince the judges that things were more complex than they appeared at first sight and that their presence at the trial was due to an unfortunate chain of events that had overtaken them The Pelicot trial has rekindled the debate on introducing the notion of consent into the legal definition of rape But according to the first set of defendants' testimonies it would be better to introduce an "involuntary rape" offense into the Penal Code as this is essentially what they have been arguing in recent days maintaining the confusion between the intention premeditation and awareness of committing rape You have 86.94% of this article left to read These four moments marked Gisèle Pelicot's journey By Pascale Robert-Diard and Henri Seckel MANON CRUZ/REUTERS These are just four moments in one woman's life confident voice spoke publicly outside the courtroom Four moments that marked the journey of a woman who has now become a feminist hero around the world Gisèle Pelicot and her husband were summoned to the police station in Carpentras Dominique Pelicot had been caught by a security guard filming under women's skirts in a supermarket a judicial police officer interviews Gisèle Pelicot separately Her statement is recorded in the investigation file as Exhibit D40 After dozens of seemingly innocuous questions – "What time do you go to bed Can you describe a typical evening at home with your husband Do you ever take an afternoon nap?" – to which Gisèle Pelicot answered in a relaxed You have 78.93% of this article left to read