A French woman whose husband is accused of soliciting men to rape her testifies in court

AVIGNON, France – A woman who was allegedly drugged by her ex-husband so she could be raped by other men while unconscious said Thursday her world fell apart when police uncovered years of abuse.

In a calm, clear voice, Gisèle Pélicot described with impressive composure her horror at the discovery that her former husband had systematically filmed dozens of alleged rapes – and stored thousands of images that police investigators later found.

“It's unbearable,” she said during her hour-long testimony in court in the southern French city of Avignon. “I have so much to say that I don't always know where to start.”

Dominique Pélicot, now 71, and 50 other men are on trial for aggravated rape and face prison sentences of up to 20 years. The trial began on Monday and is expected to last until December. On Thursday, Gisèle Pélicot, also in her 70s, testified for the first time.

The Associated Press does not usually name victims of sex crimes, but Gisèle Pélicot's lawyer Stéphane Babonneau said she accepted the publication of her name, just as she insisted that the trial be held in public.

She told the court she hoped her testimony would help spare other women from similar ordeals. She said she was pushing for a trial in open court in solidarity with other women whose victims of sexual crimes are not recognized.

She and her husband of 50 years had three children. When they retired, the couple moved to a house in Mazan, a small town in Provence.

“I thought we were a close couple,” she said in court.

But at the end of 2020, a security guard caught her husband taking photos of women's crotches in a supermarket. Investigators then searched Dominique Pélicot's phone and computer. They found thousands of photos and videos of men apparently raping Gisèle in her home while she appeared to be unconscious.

When the police called her in for questioning, she initially said that her husband was “a great guy.” But when she was confronted with the unthinkable – the police showed her some of the pictures – she left her husband.

“Everything is falling apart for me”

“For me, everything is falling apart,” she said. “These are scenes of barbarism, of rape.”

She left the city with two suitcases, “everything I had left from 50 years of life together.” Since then, she said, “I have no identity anymore. … I don't know if I'll ever be able to rebuild myself.”

Police investigators found messages that Dominique Pélicot allegedly sent on a messaging website commonly used by criminals, in which he encouraged men to sexually abuse his wife. French authorities shut down the website earlier this year.

During the trial, broad details emerged of the alleged abuse of power, which investigators say began as early as 2011, and of the complex system Pélicot had built over a period of ten years.

Dominique Pélicot explained to investigators that the men they invited to the couple's home had to follow certain rules – they were not allowed to talk loudly, they had to take off their clothes in the kitchen, they were not allowed to wear perfume and they were not allowed to smell of tobacco.

Sometimes they had to wait up to an hour and a half in a nearby parking lot until the medication took full effect and Gisèle Pélicot lost consciousness.

The victim was allegedly given a drug cocktail

The toxicologist spoke on Thursday of a drug cocktail, a mixture of Temesta and Zolpidem, sleeping pills and anxiolytics. A medical expert said the alleged rapists did not have to wear condoms and Gisèle Pélicot had contracted four sexually transmitted diseases.

“I was sacrificed on the altar of vice,” said Gisèle Pélicot. “They looked at me like a rag doll, like a garbage bag.”

Because Dominique Pélicot recorded the alleged rapes on video, the police were able to track down most of the 72 suspects they were looking for over the course of two years.

In addition to Pélicot, 50 other men between the ages of 22 and 70 are on trial. Several defendants deny some of the charges against them and claim that they were manipulated by Pélicot.

When questioned in court, Gisèle Pélicot rejected the allegation that any of these men had been manipulated or lured into a trap.

“These men entered my house and followed the prescribed protocol. They did not rape me with a gun to my head. They raped me with full conscience,” she said. “Why did they not go to the police? Even an anonymous phone call could have saved my life.”

Over the next few months, the defendants will appear in small groups before a panel of five judges. Pélicot is due to speak next week. Psychologists, psychiatrists and computer experts will also testify.

Outside the courthouse, Gisèle Pélicot told reporters she tried to answer lawyers' questions as best she could, despite the pressure of having all these “individuals” behind her.

“We will have to fight to the end.”

Copyright: NPR