Gisèle Pelicot’s husband drugged and assaulted her for a decade. She demanded a public trial.
A horrifying sexual assault case playing out in France is adding to a larger French reckoning over abuse toward women.
The case centers on 71-year-old Dominique Pelicot, who is accused of drugging and raping his wife, Gisèle Pelicot, and inviting dozens of other men to sexually assault her while she was unconscious. Dominique Pelicot — who has confessed to raping his wife repeatedly over the course of a decade — is now on trial, along with 50 other defendants, who are also accused of sexual assault or attempted sexual assault. Some of these defendants have admitted guilt, while others have denied it.
During his testimony, Dominique Pelicot said he and all the men involved are guilty. “I maintain that I am a rapist, like those in this room,” Dominique Pelicot said. “They all knew her condition before they came; they knew everything. They cannot say otherwise.”
Although she had the option of a private trial, Gisèle Pelicot decided to make the proceedings public in order to support and raise awareness for other victims of similar crimes. “I speak for all women who are drugged and don’t know about it, I do it on behalf of all women who will perhaps never know,” Gisèle Pelicot said of her case. In total, police have used roughly 20,000 images her husband took of the assaults to determine that 72 men had been involved in raping her from 2011 to 2020.
The Pelicot case is roiling France and comes as the country continues to grapple with accountability regarding sexual misconduct toward women. As the New York Times reported this spring, the #MeToo movement had previously stalled in France’s film industry, and has found new momentum this year after prominent actor and director Judith Godrèche spoke out. French writers and actors have also previously noted that the country’s attitudes toward sexual freedom have distinguished it from the US in how condemning sexual misconduct is treated.
“French attitudes toward morality and sex have historically always been different to the US,” journalist Agnès Poirier previously told the BBC. “But it’s been brewing for years and it feels that 2024 is different.”What the case is
Dominique Pelicot’s assaults on his wife were first discovered by police in November 2020, after he was initially investigated for taking photos up women’s skirts at a supermarket in southeastern France, where the couple lived.
After he was caught taking the photos, police searched Pelicot’s computer and found a folder titled “Abuses” on a related USB drive. In it, they discovered thousands of photos and videos of Pelicot and other men raping his wife while she was unconscious. “My world fell apart,” Gisèle Pelicot said after police informed her of their discovery.
