Shocking video of the crime

Defendant: “Like sleeping with a corpse”

The case of Gisèle Pelicot could permanently change the debate on sexualized violence - completely unusually, it makes the numerous cases of abuse themselves public.(Bild: APA/AFP/Christophe SIMON)

The next trial day, the next disturbing details in the trial of the numerous rapes of French woman Giséle Pelicot. On Tuesday, a 37-minute video of the abuse was shown. "It was like sleeping with a corpse," described one of the accused.

The co-defendant, pensioner Mohamed R., had to answer to the judge on Wednesday. Like other defendants before him, the 70-year-old also stated that he had not obtained consent for sex with the French woman. However, he does not claim to have raped her, as her husband had made the agreement with him. Dominique Pelicot had drugged his wife for over ten years and offered her to at least 50 men for sex.

R. had "felt like an actor"
 A video recorded by her husband previously proved that R. had also had sex with the woman. The 37-minute recording showed how Pelicot, who was sedated with sleeping pills, was abused on the night of May 6-7, 2019 - the victim herself had insisted that the acts be shown publicly.

He felt like an actor, the French broadcaster BFM TV quoted him as saying. He continued: "It was like sleeping with a corpse." R. is no stranger to the courts; he already served a five-year prison sentence in 1999 for the rape of his then 14-year-old daughter - in total, he has already been convicted of five criminal offenses.

The Giséle Pelicot trial is not only keeping the whole of France on tenterhooks. The strong woman has since become an icon of the women's movement in the country.(Bild: APA/AFP/DENIS CHARLET)

Defendant has already identified an "unjust" verdict
In the current trial, however, he sees himself as a victim. After all, he was psychologically damaged due to a difficult childhood and was lured into a "trap" by his ex-partners and their children in the Pelicot case. He is therefore a victim of the justice system and already sees an "incomprehensible and unjust" verdict coming his way.

Mohamed R. is one of the last seven men to be questioned in the huge trial until the end of the hearing on Friday. Despite the seriousness of the offenses, Giséle Pelicot did not miss the opportunity to be present on each of the numerous trial days. It was only on Monday that the descriptions of an unruly defendant became too much for her, so she left the courtroom without further ado.

Perpetrators face up to 20 years in prison
In total, 51 men are on trial for abusing the 72-year-old woman. The numerous rapes only came to light by chance in 2020, when a security guard caught her husband secretly filming women up their skirts on his cell phone. The other violent videos were eventually discovered on the device. The perpetrators face up to 20 years in prison.

The court actually wanted to hold the trial in camera. However, Pelicot decided to go public with her fate: "Shame must change sides," she emphasized. The verdict is expected to be announced in mid-December.