Gisèle Pelicot, the French woman whose husband was then on trial for drugging and raping her and inviting dozens of other men to rape her, appeared in court on Wednesday.
She told the court in Avignon that she wanted raped women to know that “it’s not us who should be ashamed, it’s them”.
“I want all the women who were raped to say: Mrs. Pelicot did it, I can do it too. I don’t want them to be ashamed anymore,” she said, referring to the request for a public trial and videos of the rape. The alleged rapes will be shown.
Pelicot, 72, took the stand following a request from her legal team that she be given an opportunity to respond to the evidence and testimony shared so far at the trial.
She said that over the past few weeks, she has seen many wives, mothers, and sisters of the defendants take the stand and say that the defendants are “exceptional men.”
“It was exactly like the person I was back home,” she added. “But a rapist is not just someone you meet in a parking lot late at night. He can also be found in the family, among friends.”
Ms Pelicot said she was “completely devastated” and would have to get back on her feet. “I don’t know if my whole life will be enough to understand,” she added.
When she called her ex-husband Mr. Pelicot, she said: “I wish I could still call him Dominique. We have lived together for 50 years, I am a happy and fulfilled woman.”
“You are a thoughtful, caring husband and I have never doubted you. We have shared laughter and tears,” she added, her voice choking up.
She filed for divorce from Dominique in 2021.
Some readers may find details in this story disturbing.
Dominique admitted to recruiting men online to rape his wife while she was under the influence of heavy sedatives and sleeping pills that he secretly injected her with between 2010 and 2020.
Miss Pelicot said she felt lucky to have him by her side when she had health problems that were later revealed to be related to the medicine he gave her.
“I’m trying to understand how this man, who to me is perfect, could do this. How could he betray me at this time? How could you let these This stranger came into my bedroom?” she said.
“I want to tell him: I always tried to lift you higher, towards the light. You chose the darkest abyss of human nature. It was you who made this choice.”
Ms Pelicot said Dominique often cooked her meals and brought her ice cream after dinner – which was the method he later said he used to drug her: “I used to tell him: I’m so lucky, you’re so adorable. , you really take care of me.”
She added that she never felt dizzy or felt her heart racing and that she must have passed out quickly when she was drugged. She woke up in her bed the next morning feeling particularly tired but she believed it was from all the hiking.
“I have gynecological problems, and some mornings I wake up feeling as if my water has broken. The signs were there but I never knew how to decipher them,” she added.
Ms Pelicot and her lawyers also discussed whether Dominique might be suffering from an inferiority complex due to an affair with a co-worker, the difference in social status between them or the fact that she had a loving childhood. love but you don’t.
Returning to the echo that the trial is bringing, she said: “People say I am brave. This is not courage, but the will and determination to change society.”
“Courage is jumping into the sea to save people. Just have will and determination,” she said.
“This is why I come here every day… Even when I hear indescribable things, I persevere because of all the men and women right behind me.”
She said she never regretted asking for a trial: “I did it because what happened to me will never happen again.”
Most of the alleged rapes were filmed.
The majority of the defendants denied raping Miss Pelicot and argued that they could not have committed the crime because they did not realize she was unconscious and therefore did not “know” they were raping her.
Despite being in court most days, Ms. Pelicot only took the stand twice.
The last time, on September 18, she said she felt “humiliated” by suggestions that she agree to participate in a sex game in which she pretended to sleep while men her husband recruited online application to their homes.
“These men came to rape me,” she said. What I am hearing in this courtroom is despicable, humiliating.”
The trial has attracted a lot of interest in France, where Ms. Pelicot has become a feminist icon – not least for waiving her right to anonymity and demanding a public trial. Her legal team said opening a trial would convey “shame” to the defendant.
Last Saturday, rallies supporting Ms. Pelicot were held in more than a dozen French cities. Some feminist organizations are also asking the French government to expand rape laws to include a provision on consent.
The trial opened on September 2. Although the hearings lasted for days, they were still only halfway through due to the number of defendants who had to be questioned.
A ruling is expected by the end of December.
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