Video evidence shown in French mass rape trial

STAY IN DEFENSE:
Despite showing videos of them appearing, one of the defendants said he had no memory of the event

A court trying a Frenchman accused of drugging his wife and recruiting dozens of strangers to rape her showed videos of the abuse to the public on Friday, challenging several co-defendants who denied knowing that she was unconscious during her actions.

The judge in the southern city of Avignon had nine videos and several photos of the abuse of Gisele Pelicot shown in the courtroom and an adjacent public hall, involving seven of the 50 defendants along with her husband.

Gisele Pelicot, herself present in the courtroom, looked at her phone during the hour and a half of demonstrations as her ex-husband covered his eyes in the dock and several of his co-defendants watched themselves on the screen or stared at the floor.

Gisele Pelicot insisted that the trial be public to raise awareness of drug use in sexual abuse and called for restrictions on showing the images to be lifted.

Judge Roger Arata reversed an earlier decision to hold the screenings behind closed doors and accepted her lawyers' request that the public be present when the pictures were shown.

They were investigated to challenge the statements of some defendants who claimed that they did not know that the victim was unconscious.

However, after the images were shown, most stood by their defence.

They had previously said they thought they were taking part in a sex game.

After the screenings, one said he had “no memory” of the event, while another said he had been “terrorized” by Dominique Pelicot, even though it “doesn't look like it” from the pictures.

A third said he didn't hear Gisele Pelicot snoring or was “hoping she would wake up at the end.”

Dominique Pelicot filmed much of the abuse against his wife and also carefully recorded the strangers who visited their home, which subsequently helped the police uncover the crimes.

He has admitted to drugging his wife and inviting men to rape her between 2011 and 2020.

Arata ruled that the review of video evidence “would not be systematic” and would only occur when “strictly necessary to uncover the truth” and at the request of one of the parties.

Gisele Pelicot's lawyer Stephane Babonneau said the verdict was a “victory” but “a victory in a battle that should not have been fought.”

Gisele Pelicot's willingness to highlight her suffering has won widespread recognition and made her a feminist icon in France.

“It’s too late for Gisele Pelicot. The damage is done,” Babonneau said. “But if these same hearings, through their publication, help ensure that other women do not have to go through this, then she will find meaning in her suffering.”