WARNING: This article includes discussion of sexual assault and intimate partner violence.
Gisèle Pelicot, the 72-year-old survivor of mass rape whose case has shocked the world, told a trial in southern France on Wednesday that in making her case public, she was determined to help other women and change society.
Dominique Pelicot, her husband, has admitted to inviting dozens of strangers over nearly 10 years to their house to rape her after he had drugged her. Fifty other men also stand trial, accused of raping her.
Pelicot, her voice often shaking with emotion, told the court she was destroyed by what happened to her. She said how “unbelievably violent” it was for her that many of the accused in the trial, which started on Sept. 2, said they thought she had agreed to the rapes or was faking sleeping.
“I’ve decided not to be ashamed, I’ve done nothing wrong,” Pelicot, who has become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence, told the court in Avignon.
Gisèle Pelicot, who was allegedly drugged and raped by dozens of men in a scheme orchestrated by her husband, was greeted with flowers and applause after testifying in a public trial.
She said she had insisted the trial be held publicly, and not behind closed doors, as is often the case to protect rape victims, in the hope it would help other rape victims.
“They [rapists] are the ones who must be ashamed,” she said. Videos of some of her rapes that her husband had filmed were shown during the trial, which she said was “very difficult but necessary.”
“I’m not expressing hatred or hate, but I am determined that things change in this society.”
May spur change to rape law
France may introduce changes to its rape law to include consent for the first time, as a result of the trial, which has challenged the limits of existing legislation and prompted some leading politicians to call for change.
France’s new Justice Minister Didier Migaud recently said he is in favour of updating the law, as has President Emmanuel Macron, after France blocked the inclusion of a consent-based rape definition in a European directive in 2023.
“I believe it is beyond understanding for our fellow citizens to refuse to include consent in the definition of rape,” Migaud told lawmakers earlier this month.
Consent-based rape law already exists in Sweden, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and more than a dozen other European countries, with the rise of the feminist #MeToo movement prompting legislative reform in some jurisdictions since 2017.
Warning: Video contains distressing details | Dominique Pelicot, a 71-year-old French man, admitted in court on Tuesday that for nearly a decade, he repeatedly drugged his unwitting wife, Gisèle Pelicot, and invited dozens of men to rape her while she lay unconscious.
However, French criminal law defines rape as a penetrative act or oral sex act committed on someone using “violence, coercion, threat or surprise.” It makes no clear mention of the need for a partner’s consent and prosecutors must prove the intention to rape to secure a guilty verdict, five legal experts told Reuters.
France has been reluctant to move away from this definition, and it’s a hotly debated issue. Some legal experts and women’s rights activists say consent puts scrutiny on the victim’s behaviour and words, rather than the accused, and that a person can say “yes” without actually wanting to.
‘I’m a woman who’s totally destroyed’
Protests have been organized across France to show support for Gisèle Pelicot, with many women expressing admiration for her courage.
“It’s not courage. It’s determination to change things,” she said. “This is not just my battle, but that of all rape victims.”
Most of the accused told the court they have been manipulated by Dominique, rejecting the blame on him. Only a few have admitted to raping Pelicot.
Some have apologized.
“I hear those apologies, but they are inaudible,” she told the court. “By apologizing, they are trying to excuse themselves.”
Saying her husband’s betrayal of her trust was beyond measure, Pelicot told the court, “I’m a woman who’s totally destroyed.”
She had thought he was the perfect husband, she told the court.
“My life has tumbled into nothingness.”
For anyone who has been sexually assaulted, there is support available through crisis lines and local support services via the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.
For anyone affected by family or intimate partner violence, there is support available through crisis lines and local support services. If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.