The last words of Gisèle Pélicot: “This is the trial of cowardice, we must redefine the notion of rape”

It is the last time he has spoken. She will no longer do so in the process that judges her husband for having drugged her for 10 years so that at least 50 more men (also tried) raped her when she was unconscious. Gisèle Pélicot approached the court lectern with her usual elegance: “I have just heard the last accused testify. For three months I have heard inaudible, unacceptable, fatigue begins to be felt... It is difficult for me to see the banality of the rape that takes place in the room.”

It is his fourth statement in front of the Avignon court, where the trial is being held. His intervention lasted two hours. “For me this is the process of cowardice, of cowardice with Gisèle Pélicot, I have seen four police officers testify as witnesses to say that their friend (an accused) was respectful of women. If that respect exists, we should redefine the notion of rape, which we trivialize. It is time for us to patriarchal society changes its outlook on rape.

A firm but tired Gisèle has been perceivedafter three months listening to the statements of the 50 accused of raping her. The majority denies the intention, despite the fact that there are videos of the sexual acts, which her husband recorded. She has once again responded to questions from the defense lawyers of those involved, who insist on the theory that she is still under the domination of Dominique Pélicot.

They have criticized him for having a more permissive attitude towards him than towards the rest of the accused. “Mr. Pélicot has acknowledged the facts. I have looked into the eyes of the accused who have acknowledged their actions, I don’t give even a glance to those who make excuses and don’t recognize it,” he said.

They have questioned her about the fact that she has not been seen crying and why she spent so long without finding out anything: “My family, friends, even the doctors I visited… Nobody saw anything,” she said. She, to whom her husband supplied sleeping pills so that other men could rape her, had absences, but thought she had Alzheimer’s or a tumor. She underwent numerous medical and gynecological tests: no one detected anything. Her own husband accompanied her. “I have lost 10 years of my life that I will not get back”.

“You give the impression, with your attitude, that you have forgiven him,” a lawyer rebuked him. “Never, I have not forgiven Mr. Pélicot.” “Do not martyr the lady in court,” the president of the court interrupted a lawyer, Nadia El Bouroumi, for her aggressive attitude towards Gisèle Pélicot. “I have always been a positive woman. I keep my tears, I keep the smiles. I start from the principle that I will keep the best of that couple,” she responded to another of the lawyers.

At one point, he turned around and looked at the accused: “Of course he was a manipulator, the leader of the orchestra, but when those men enter that room and see an unconscious woman… You stop, You leave and report it. Not a single one has asked this question, although everyone admits that, when they left, they realized that there was something that was not right. When you get to the act, is it a matter of manipulation? I think those names are not naive“They’re not 10-year-olds.”

Another of the venomous questions: why has she not changed her last name, and continues to bear her husband’s name even though she is already separated. “When we discovered everything, my children were ashamed of having the surname Pélicot. I have grandchildren who have that last name, and I don’t want them to be ashamed, I want them to be proud of their grandmother. Today I am known all over the world, apart from my will Tomorrow we will remember madame Pélicot, much less Mr. Pélicot. And they will not be ashamed to carry the surname.”

He will speak for the last time being late. Then the arguments of the different parties will begin, and the sentence is scheduled for mid-December.