Who are the other defendants in the Pelicot trial?

FRANCE 24 English

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00:00Some of these men are gardeners, nurses, firefighters or engineers.

00:05Others retired or volunteers, even fathers, aged between 26 and 73.

00:11And they are all accused of raping Gisele Pellicot at the invitation of her then-husband, Dominique Pellicot,

00:18in their home in southeastern France between 2011 and 2020.

00:24These are people who are not delinquents at all,

00:28who for the most part have clean criminal records and had normal family lives and professional activities.

00:34And they found themselves involved in this case, which is obviously a very important one.

00:4035 of the 50 co-defendants maintain they are not guilty.

00:44Some claim they too are victims manipulated by the main defendant, Dominique Pellicot,

00:49even saying they thought his wife was on board, despite never seeking consent from her directly.

00:55But a key testimony on Tuesday could prove lethal to their case.

00:59Finally addressing the court, Dominique Pellicot himself said explicitly

01:03that they all knew they were taking part in the abuse and that they cannot claim the contrary.

01:08The only one not accused of directly abusing Gisele Pellicot is a man called Jean-Pierre M.

01:14Instead, he has admitted to copying the crime and replicating it against his own wife to rape her,

01:20sometimes with Dominique Pellicot involved after the pair met online.

01:24My client is very malleable and very naive.

01:27That's what the reports show.

01:29Well, quite simply, he walked into this.

01:31He doesn't have the personality to say no.

01:33While the stories of these men may vary, they all share one thing in common.

01:37They are now at the centre of this disturbing case

01:40that is exposing a reality of sexual violence to France and to the world.

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