Gisele Pelicot arrives in the Avignon court house, in Avignon, southern France, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. A woman allegedly drugged by her ex-husband so that she could be raped by other men while she laid unconscious, is expected to testify before a panel of French judges. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)
AVIGNON, France (AP) — A woman who was allegedly drugged by her now ex-husband so that she could be raped by other men while she was unconscious testified Thursday that her world collapsed when police uncovered the years of alleged abuse.
Speaking in a calm and clear voice, Gisèle Pélicot detailed with impressive composure the horror of discovering that her former spouse had systematically filmed the dozens of suspected rapes — storing thousands of images that police investigators later found.
“It’s unbearable,” she told the court in the southern French city of Avignon in an hour of testimony. “I have so much to say that I don’t always know where to start.”
Dominique Pélicot, now 71, and 50 other men are standing trial on charges of aggravated rape and face up to 20 years in prison. The trial started on Monday and is expected to run until December. Thursday marked the first time that Gisèle Pélicot, also in her seventies, had testified.
The Associated Press doesn’t generally identify victims of sexual crimes. But Gisèle Pélicot’s lawyer, Stéphane Babonneau, said she accepted that her name would be published in the same way that she insisted that the trial be held in public.
She told the court that she hopes her testimony might help spare other women from similar ordeals. She said she pushed for the trial in open court in solidarity with other women who go unrecognized as victims of sexual crimes.
“I thought we were a close couple,” she told the court.
But in late 2020, a security agent caught her husband taking photos of women’s crotches in a supermarket, leading investigators to search Dominique Pélicot’s phone and computer. They found thousands of photographs and videos of men appearing to rape Gisèle in their home while she appears to be unconscious.
When police officers called her in for questioning, she initially told them her husband was “a great guy.” But after being confronted with the unfathomable — police showed her some of the images — she left her husband.
Over the next few months, the defendants will appear in small groups before a panel of five judges, with Pélicot scheduled to speak next week. Psychologists, psychiatrists and computer experts will also testify.
Outside the court house, Gisèle Pélicot told reporters she had tried to answer lawyers’ questions as best she could, despite the pressure of having all these “individuals” behind her.
“We will have to fight until the end.”
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