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'Verdict shakes French society to its core: Shifting judicial focus on actions of perpetrators'
FRANCE 24 English
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12/20/2024
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00:00
She's the face of courage, that's how politicians and public figures around the world are describing
00:11
Gisèle Pellicourt after her ex-husband was sentenced to 20 years in prison for drugging
00:16
her, raping her and inviting dozens of strangers to rape her too. 76 of the men were also handed
00:22
jail terms today, ranging from 3 to 8 years for their crimes. All the men, including Dominique
00:28
Pellicourt, were found guilty of rape or sexual assault. The sentences cap off what
00:32
has been a landmark trial that has sparked a wider debate about rape culture in France
00:38
and beyond. Gisèle herself has become a feminist hero. The 72-year-old could have demanded
00:44
that the trial be kept behind closed doors, but instead she asked for it to be held in
00:47
public in the hopes that it would help other women speak up about their abuse too.
00:53
Siobhan Silk has more now on the verdicts delivered today.
00:58
The woman who walked into court throughout this trial with her head held high, walked
01:02
out after the verdicts the same way. Gisèle Pellicourt, a picture of courage and resilience
01:09
after a decade of druggings and brutal rapes at the bidding of her then-husband, then a
01:14
gruelling three-and-a-half-month trial under the eyes of the world.
01:20
I want to express a most profound gratitude to all those who have supported me throughout
01:25
this ordeal. Your stories have moved me deeply and they have given me the strength needed
01:30
to return day after day for these long hearings.
01:37
On Thursday, the verdicts finally came. Gisèle's ex-husband Dominique Pellicourt was found
01:42
guilty and handed the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. His 50 co-accused, 50
01:48
strangers whom Pellicourt recruited to rape his then-wife, also all found guilty on charges
01:53
of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault. Their sentences ranged from three to 15 years
01:59
with some partially suspended, a disappointment to the prosecution who had demanded prison
02:04
terms of up to 18 years.
02:07
The sentences were reduced and it's a good thing. I continue to think that Dominique
02:11
Pellicourt's ultimate crime is to have brought down with him 50 men who were not meant to
02:16
find themselves here today.
02:20
Gisèle Pellicourt said she respected the court's decision but her supporters are bitterly
02:25
disappointed by what they see as light punishments.
02:30
It makes a mockery of everyone, a mockery of us and a mockery of sexist and sexual violence.
02:35
I don't even have the words. We're completely disillusioned.
02:41
Even at this time, Gisèle Pellicourt's thoughts are with other people who may be suffering
02:46
in silence.
02:47
I think of the victims who have not been recognised, whose stories are often hidden. I want you
02:53
to know that we share the same fight.
02:57
Her own story might have stayed in the shadows if not for her decision to waive her anonymity
03:02
and allow the trial to be held in public.
03:06
By opening the doors of this trial on September 2nd, I wanted society to be a witness to the
03:11
debates that took place.
03:16
I have never regretted making this decision.
03:20
As the guilty men now begin their prison sentences, the enduring image of this trial will be the
03:25
superhuman strength of Gisèle Pellicourt, the survivor who became an icon.
03:34
As we've been mentioning, Gisèle Pellicourt bravely chose to waiver her right to anonymity
03:38
and throughout the trial, she looked each of her rapists in the eye.
03:42
In court, she didn't just demand justice for herself, but said it's time for sweeping changes
03:46
in a society that trivialises such abuses.
03:50
Emma Maxwell has more.
03:55
Greeted were cheers and applause outside the courtroom, as she has been every day since
04:00
the trial began.
04:02
I just hope that her case will help justice to change.
04:09
She do it to give strength to all the women who don't have the courage to go on trial,
04:18
to fight.
04:19
Gisèle Pellicourt has been hailed for her bravery from her first appearance at the courthouse
04:24
in Avignon.
04:26
Under French law, she could have asked for the trial to play out behind closed doors.
04:31
But Gisèle Pellicourt says that it wasn't bravery, but a will to change society and
04:35
to raise awareness of the use of drugs to rape women that prompted her to opt for a
04:40
public trial.
04:42
When you're raped, there is shame.
04:44
And it's not for us to have shame, it's for them.
04:47
While discreet in front of the news cameras, Gisèle Pellicourt has addressed the court
04:50
three times.
04:51
The 72-year-old grandmother and former logistics manager has said she is totally destroyed
04:56
by the abuse inflicted on her by what she thought of as her loving husband for a decade,
05:02
over which time she saw doctors for gynaecological problems and what she feared was Alzheimer's
05:07
from her unexplained blackouts.
05:09
I've lost ten years of my life that I'll never make up for.
05:13
This scar will never heal.
05:14
Addressing her ex-husband in court, she asked the question she may never get to the bottom
05:19
of.
05:20
How could you have betrayed me to this point?
05:22
Whatever trauma you go through in childhood, there's a point when you choose the way you're
05:26
going to be in life.
05:28
She also condemned the cowardice of the dozens of men accused of raping her at her husband's
05:32
behest, who claim they didn't realise it was rape.
05:36
It's time that the macho, patriarchal society that trivialises rape changes.
05:42
The historic trial has made a feminist icon of Gisèle Pellicourt, sparking demonstrations
05:47
of solidarity as well as debate over sexual violence, masculinity and the critical issue
05:52
of consent.
05:54
We hope, as she does, that it will mark a turning point in France.
06:00
Let's talk more about this mass rape trial's impact with Hema Sibi who joins us now.
06:06
Great to have you Hema, thanks so much for joining us.
06:08
You're of course a spokesperson for Mouvement Dénib, a feminist organisation here in France.
06:14
Now you've been following this trial closely, you've appeared on the programme here at France
06:19
24 to speak to us about the trial and its impact.
06:23
Are you satisfied with today's outcome?
06:27
Today's outcome is pretty satisfying in the sense that the court condemned Dominique Pellicourt
06:34
to the highest sentence.
06:36
And what is commendable is that all the men that were accused of rape were actually found
06:42
guilty.
06:43
It can be regrettable, unfortunately, that these 50 other accused had a lighter sentence
06:51
than what was requested by prosecution.
06:54
This disparity may suggest that they were sort of like mere Muppets that were under
07:00
the influence of Dominique Pellicourt.
07:04
What we need to acknowledge is that a man who rapes is a man who rapes and there should
07:09
be no lighter consequences for these actions.
07:14
That being said, the verdict has shaken French society to its core, not only because of its
07:20
horror, but because of the courage of Gisèle Pellicourt standing tall to get justice from
07:25
the abusers and from the 51 men who raped her.
07:29
She became a real voice for all the women who have been victims of predatory men in
07:34
France.
07:35
And I think this sentence really has the merit of also shifting the judicial focus on the
07:43
actions of the perpetrators.
07:45
This time and for once, it wasn't the actions of the victim that was scrutinized, but rather
07:51
the actions of the men that were abusers.
07:54
Yeah, let's talk a bit about Gisèle Pellicourt because, of course, at the beginning of this
07:58
trial, she was just an ordinary grandmother and she wore sunglasses even in court.
08:04
And now she's emerged as this image of strength.
08:07
Talk to us about her impact, the fact that she had this trial be held in public.
08:13
Talk about the impact that that has on French society.
08:17
It has probably an indelible mark on French society.
08:22
And the fact that she refused, that she waived her right to anonymity, which is typically
08:27
granted in cases of sexual violence, is so powerful.
08:32
By doing so, she invited society to not only stand in solidarity with her because women
08:39
were waiting in her trial every day.
08:42
Women were applauding for her.
08:44
But she also allowed society to look at who were the men who perpetrate sexual violence
08:51
and ensuring that they would not escape the consequences of this public reckoning.
08:57
What society saw in this trial was that the men who rape and the rapist is not this sort
09:03
of like monster alienated from society, but it's precisely the men that are around us,
09:09
you know, just any men.
09:11
They come from all walks of life.
09:13
They have very different profiles.
09:15
They don't have just one origin or ethnicity.
09:18
They don't have one social background.
09:20
They come from all walks of life.
09:22
But what they have in common is that they're men.
09:25
So by, you know, just opening the door to the trial, she allowed for women to stand
09:30
in support with her.
09:31
She allowed for men to support her, too.
09:34
And this trial has caused a lot of like protests to erupt all over France in solidarity with
09:41
Giselle, but also of women just screaming their anger against men's violence across
09:49
the country.
09:50
So it has had a huge impact.
09:52
And I think women's rights in France have been marked by several big trials.
09:57
And the Giselle Pelico for sure is one of them.
09:59
There will be a before and after this trial.
10:03
Yeah, some people are saying that there will be a sort of Pelico effect now on French society.
10:09
I want to talk about French laws, because this case has, of course, shone a light on
10:15
consent here in France and the fact that it's not part of the French Penal Code.
10:22
Can you see a consent provision being added to the laws here in France anytime soon?
10:28
It is currently a debate that is taking place.
10:31
And it's also a debate that is, you know, like stirring a lot of discussions in the
10:35
feminist movement.
10:38
What we can see is that the current definition of rape for this specific trial allowed for
10:44
the accused to be convicted, because in France, we have the element of rape by surprise.
10:51
And since the victim was chemically submitted, the surprise element was the one that was
10:57
held by the justice to hold these perpetrators accountable.
11:01
So a lot of debates are going on towards including consent on the definition of rape or not.
11:08
But I'm not sure that we will know soon enough if this will happen or not.
11:14
And Emma, I want to circle back to something you were mentioning just before about the
11:17
fact that many of the men involved in this trial, many of the defendants are everyday
11:22
men.
11:23
They're men that we encounter on a day to day basis.
11:24
I think there's a journalist among them, a firefighter also among them.
11:29
So these are men that we can encounter at any time.
11:32
Where has society gone wrong to the point that these ordinary men can be involved in
11:38
such horrific acts?
11:41
I think this case was the case of the rape culture.
11:46
And that's where society went wrong, is that we have some very patriarchal structures that
11:51
are a part of our systems and that foster the fact that women, the violence against
11:57
women, that men's violence against women is actually organized and is allowed and enabled
12:04
in France by this very rape culture.
12:07
We saw in this trial that the rapist, and Giselle Pelico said it herself, is not someone
12:13
who just attacks you in a parking lot in the dark at night.
12:17
We saw in this trial that actually raping was a part of a strategy, which we can call
12:23
the perpetrator strategy.
12:25
No, the rapist is not someone who is acting on behalf of some sort of like irrepressible
12:31
sexual needs.
12:33
While this notion is very archaic, we need to acknowledge that the rapist is someone
12:37
who carefully plans this violent act.
12:41
This was the case in the Pelico case, because the rapists were all meeting on this website
12:47
called Coco.fr, a website which was very well known in France for gathering pimps,
12:54
sex buyers, abusers, for having pedo-criminal images and pornographic content of children.
13:03
This website has so many charges, judicial charges, even one for murderers.
13:09
And they all met on this website.
13:12
They all clicked on the forum without her knowledge.
13:16
They all discussed with Dominique Pelico, and they all went through with the rape of
13:21
Giselle Pelico.
13:22
So this was a strategy.
13:25
And the defense arguments that were highlighted really shows how deeply sexual violence is
13:30
entrenched in the French society, because they really underlined a vision of women as
13:36
interchangeable commodities, as properties of their husband, as being sort of like dispossessed
13:42
of any of their free will if the husband gave his authorization over them.
13:48
So it's not just about Giselle Pelico, it's about all women.
13:52
Hema, great to have you.
13:54
Thanks so much for giving us your insight there.
13:55
That's Hema Sibi, who is a spokesperson for the movement, the association called Mouvement
14:01
du Nib.
14:02
She just joined us there.
14:03
Thanks so much for giving us your insight.
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