The main defendant is again missing from the French mass rape trial

The main defendant in a mass rape trial that has sparked horror and protests in France was absent from Monday, September 30, because he was “unwell” and needed to undergo medical treatment, the presiding judge said. Dominique Pelicot, 71, has been on trial since September 2 for raping his heavily sedated wife Gisèle for nearly a decade and recruiting strangers to rape her.

The trial had already been briefly interrupted in mid-September due to the absence of Dominique Pelicot, who was suffering from intestinal problems. “He's not feeling well. He needs medical attention this afternoon,” presiding judge Roger Arata said at the start of Monday’s hearing in the southeastern city of Avignon. “We’ll see tomorrow,” he added.

Dominique Pelicot had already been excused from Friday's hearing to undergo a medical examination. His lawyer Béatrice Zavarro told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Sunday that the investigation “went well.”

Pelicot has admitted the allegations against him. He is being tried alongside 50 other men aged between 26 and 74, many of whom have denied the rape allegation. Most face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of aggravated rape.

Seven other defendants will be called to testify on Thursday. Among them is 46-year-old Jerome V., a former grocery store employee who sexually abused Gisèle Pelicot six times in 2020 at the couple's home in the town of Mazan in southeastern France.

Gisèle Pelicot, Dominique's ex-wife, who only discovered the abuse in 2020 after police found out about it, has requested that the trial be public to raise awareness about the use of drugs in sexual abuse.