'Chemical submission': France shocked by Pelicot drug-facilitated rape case - video Dailymotion

FRANCE 24 English

Gisèle Pelicot is the face of courage. In this edition of Entre Nous, Delano D'Souza and Solange Mougin discuss her horrific ordeal, as the victim takes the stand in the trial of her husband and dozens of other men accused of raping her over a decade-long period. We also discuss the "chemical submission" drugs to watch out for. This Entre Nous aired on Paris Direct, September 5, 2024. A programme produced by Amanda Alexander, Marina Pajovic and Georgina Robertson.  Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

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00:00Now, a gruesome court case continues in the city of Avignon in the south of France involving a man

00:06accused of orchestrating multiple rapes of his wife by strangers over the course of years.

00:11Dominique P has admitted to the charges, including drugging his wife. He was exposed

00:16by chance after being caught filming up women's skirts at a local supermarket.

00:21Today, his wife, known as Giselle P, is taking the stand and she has insisted that the trial

00:26take place in public so the truth comes out. For more on this story, we can bring in Solange

00:32Mougin. Solange, it's rare for a trial like this to be held in open court, isn't it?

00:37Yeah, it is and it's really a testament to the courage of the victim, Giselle Pélico,

00:42and she and her lawyers specifically requested and fought for the trial to be open, for her name to

00:48be used, for journalists in the world to bear witness to what happened to her and her family.

00:53Now, in court on the stand today, she said she's doing this, quote, in the name of all the women

00:58who won't be recognized or perhaps won't be recognized as victims with an open trial. Her

01:04lawyers, well, they say that she wants to, quote, the shame to shift sides and it is indeed quite

01:10rare to stand up publicly with such stoicism in the face of such horrors that happened to her and

01:17her family. In this regard, she said today in the over one hour, one and a half hours of testimony,

01:24quote, my facade may seem strong but inside I am a field of ruins.

01:31Solange, what exactly is this trial about?

01:33Well, it's simply one horror after another. Giselle Pélico's husband, Dominique Pélico,

01:39is accused of drugging her with sleeping pills between 2011 and 2020 in addition

01:46to repeatedly raping her. While she was unconscious, he recruited strangers online

01:52to rape her as well. He admitted his guilt over the charges against him and in total,

01:57there are some 50 other men on trial for abusing and raping her. Now, 18 are in custody while 32

02:04others are free while awaiting the verdict. They are men of all walks of life and many have

02:10families, for example. Now, how the abuse came to light is also quite staggering as you just

02:15mentioned. In 2020, Dominique Pélico was caught and accused by three women in a grocery store

02:22trying to film up their skirts. He was arrested and that's when police found on his electronic

02:28devices some 300 photographs and a video of an unconscious woman being assaulted by multiple men.

02:36Now, in total, police would find 4,000 videos and photos in a folder entitled Abus or Abuse.

02:43They also found evidence of how he would invite men to rape his wife on a chat forum called

02:49Assant Inçu or Without Her Knowledge. And indeed, on the stand today, Giselle Pélico described how

02:56her world simply fell apart on the 2nd of November 2020 when police officers, they showed her images

03:02of herself unconscious, being raped repeatedly. Quote, I was warm but my body was like a dead

03:08person, she said in her testimony. She also said that police saved her life by looking through

03:14that computer. Solange, this trial has of course rocked France but it's also garnered a lot of

03:20attention around the world. Has it raised awareness or attention about rape and the use of chemical

03:26substances? Well, I think Giselle Pélico's decision to publicly come forward as well as her

03:33daughter's book and work in this regard, well, they've helped push to the forefront of people's

03:38minds the risks of chemical submission of rape in France but also worldwide. Now, in regard to

03:44France, the latest numbers that we have on chemical submission are from 2021. They are thought to be

03:50much smaller, these numbers are thought to be much smaller than the actual number of victims

03:57but three years ago, there were 721 official reports of chemical submission. Only 82 would

04:05be backed up by toxicology reports. Now, what's interesting here too is that while most of the

04:11drugs used, if you put them all together, they are often medicine like benzos or valiums, opioids,

04:18sleeping pills but there has also been a big jump of the use of recreational substances which you

04:23see there, the 44%. Most of the cases happen to women, men can also be victims of this as well.

04:31Advocates say that there are some key red flags to look out for, nausea, vertigo, amnesia,

04:36confusion, falling asleep suddenly. They say that if you have doubts, it's best to keep the

04:42possibly incriminating food or drink if you can but also to get your hair tested as traces remain

04:47longer in your hair. Now, beyond the risk of a chemical submission, this court case has also

04:52raised questions about whether doctors are trained well enough to spot such abuses as Giselle Perico

04:57spent years wondering about her gynecological problems and her absences. It's also raised

05:04questions about whether France's laws can better protect rape victims by adding or not, it's not

05:09it's a big debate that's going on in France, the word consent to the legal definition of rape.

05:15It's rare, we hear a lot of horrific stories as journalists, this story makes your jaw drop

05:22and not in a good way and this woman is so brave given all she went through for years,

05:26thank you very much for explaining the story in detail to us here Solange, thank you.

'Chemical submission': France shocked by Pelicot drug-facilitated rape case

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