Dominique Pelicot lost. But what did we win?
Gisèle Pélicot has taken off her sunglasses for the final days of her trial on Monday. Ex-husband Dominique Pelicot – orchestrator of her mass rape – apologised one last time. Today, he is expected to be sentenced: 20 years in prison. The fifty other defendants are to receive between four and 18 years imprisonment, depending on their context, from sexual aggression to coming back to the 'rape house' six times.
The trial was memorable for the strong dignified figure of Gisèle Pelicot, for proving the integrated rape culture in banal men, but also for underlying the need to readapt the judiciary system. ”Could it be that she has exhibitionist tendencies that she couldn't admit to?” Gisèle Pélicot's victim case was grossly obvious, very undeniable, yet, she was violently accused and humiliated by lawyers – a traumatising strategy commonly used in these kinds of cases.
Many of the defendants, whose videos of themselves raping an unconscious woman were broadcast, refused to even consider the word rapist. In May 2024, a European directive aimed at protecting women who are victims of violence was adopted to harmonise sentences between countries. The list includes different aggressions, but rape could not be included because the countries could not agree on its definition. This time, the fifty men and her husband did lose the case, but Gisèle Pelicot – and European women – did not win either.