French mass rape survivor Gisele Pelicot says she is ‘humiliated’ by claims of complicity

WARNING: This story deals with sexual offending and may be distressing.

The former wife of a Frenchman accused of enlisting strangers to rape her while she was drugged said on Wednesday she felt humiliated during his trial, accusing some defence lawyers of claiming she was complicit in the abuse.

“Since setting foot in this courtroom I have felt humiliated,” Gisele Pelicot, 71, said at the trial of her former husband and 50 other men for rape.

“I’m being called an alcoholic, and someone who gets intoxicated to the point of becoming Mr Pelicot’s accomplice,” she said.

Dominique Pelicot, 71, has admitted slipping his then-wife Gisele sedatives to render her unconscious so that he and dozens of strangers could rape her for nearly a decade.

He meticulously documented the abuse, which occurred mostly in her own bed, at their home in the southern town of Mazan.

Gisele Pelicot, flanked by her lawyer Stephane Babonneau (right), leaves the Avignon courthouse during the trial of her former partner Dominique Pelicot. Photo / AFP

“I was in a comatose state and the videos that will be shown will prove this,” she said in court in the city of Avignon.

“I never, even for a single second, gave my consent to Mr Pelicot or those other men” who are also on trial, she said.

She said lawyers gave the impression that she was “the guilty party and those 50 men victims”.

Gisele Pelicot, who obtained a divorce in August, has become an icon since demanding the trial be open to the public to raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse.

She has said through one of her lawyers that alleged rapists – not their victims – should be the ones to be ashamed.

‘Rape is rape’

In her testimony on Wednesday, Gisele Pelicot said she was reacting to remarks by Guillaume De Palma, one of the lawyers for the defence.

He had told the court last week, “there’s rape and there’s rape,” in a possible attempt to back up some of the men’s claim that they assumed they were participating in a libertine couple’s sex game.

“No, there are no different types of rape,” she said.

“Rape is rape.”

The lawyer apologised to her on Wednesday, saying he had wanted to distinguish the legal definition of rape from the “media” definition.

“I am sorry that these remarks hurt and shocked you,” he said.

A man is accused of intoxicating his wife and then inviting dozens of men to assault her for almost a decade.

Thousands of people demonstrated in support of Gisele Pelicot and against “rape culture” at the weekend, and she left the courtroom to applause on Tuesday, with one member of the public giving her a bunch of flowers.

The trial has horrified France, in particular, because the 50 co-defendants include apparently ordinary men with everyday jobs such as fireman, nurse or journalist, many of them with families.

Seventeen are in custody, as is Pelicot himself, but 32 other defendants are attending as free men.

One co-defendant, still at large, is being tried in absentia.

Several have admitted Pelicot told them he was drugging his then-wife, while others claim they believed they were participating in a swinger couple’s fantasy.

Only one of the 51 men, Jean-Pierre M., is not accused of raping Gisele Pelicot.

He is on trial for copying Dominique Pelicot to rape his own wife and let him abuse her too.

‘What I did is appalling’

Earlier on Wednesday, Jean-Pierre M. said he deserved to be harshly punished.

“I’m in jail and I deserve it,” the tall 63-year-old with a buzz cut told the court.

“What I did is appalling. I’m a criminal and a rapist,” he added.

Jean-Pierre M. is accused of raping or attempting to rape his wife 12 times, with Pelicot accused of taking part 10 times.

Pelicot is accused of supplying the drugs to the co-defendant, who lived some 50 kilometres (30 miles) away from the Pelicot home.

“I want a tough punishment,” he said.

He said Dominique Pelicot, whom he met online, suggested he “rape” Gisele several times, but he refused.

Asked if he had been informed she would be drugged, he said yes.

“I would never have done it if I had not met Mr Pelicot,” he said.

“He was reassuring and impressive. He reminded me of my father,” he added.

The man told the court that he had been abused by his father as a child.

“We experienced terrible things from my father, sexual abuse,” he said.

“My mother tried to protect us, but she drank.”

He described being forced to perform oral sex on his father so that he and his sister could go fishing with him.

He said when his sister cried, he agreed to do it. “I was used to it,” he said.

He also said he was forced to watch his father rape his mother.

- AFP