French prosecutors seek 20-year term for Pelicot in mass rape case

AVIGNON, France — 

French prosecutors asked for the maximum 20-year situation condemnation for Dominique Pelicot, who organized the repeated wide rape of his then-wife by knocking her unconscious with drugs and inviting dozens of strangers to maltreatment her successful the household home.

Pelicot, 71, has admitted the charges successful a proceedings that attracted worldwide attraction and turned into an introspection of the pervasiveness of intersexual unit successful France and beyond. Fifty different men besides basal proceedings for participating successful the enactment acts.

The prosecutors, who volition implicit the adjacent 2 days accidental what sentences they question against the co-accused, rejected the arguments made by galore of the men that they did not recognize they were raping Gisele Pelicot oregon had not intended to bash it.

Gisele Pelicot appeared motionless portion the accused abused her successful thousands of videos and pictures recorded by her then-husband and shown successful tribunal implicit the past weeks.

"The accused are trying to shirk work by saying they thought Gisele Pelicot consented," nationalist authoritative Laure Chabaud told the tribunal connected Monday.

"But it's not possible, today, successful 2024, to see that," Chabaud said, adding that video and pictures intelligibly showed Gisele Pelicot was unconscious and truthful incapable to springiness her consent.

As for Dominique Pelicot, "the maximum condemnation is 20 years, which is simply a batch ... but astatine the aforesaid clip ... excessively small successful presumption of the seriousness of the acts that were committed and repeated," Chabaud said.

The prosecutors besides said they were seeking a 17-year condemnation for Jean-Pierre Marechal, 63, who has admitted to moving with Dominique Pelicot to cause his ain wife, Cilia, and for some men to rape her, aft the men met connected a now-shuttered website.

The verdicts and sentences are expected astir December 20.

Gisele Pelicot, 71, could person demanded the proceedings beryllium kept down closed doors but alternatively asked for it beryllium held successful public, saying she hoped it would assistance different women talk up and amusement that victims person thing to beryllium ashamed of.

The proceedings has triggered protestation rallies successful enactment of Gisele Pelicot and spurred psyche searching, including a statement connected whether to update France's rape law.

Unlike successful immoderate different European countries, French instrumentality makes nary notation of a request that enactment impact consent and requires prosecutors to beryllium a perpetrator's intent to rape utilizing "violence, coercion, menace oregon surprise."

Dominique Pelicot's lawyer, Beatrice Zavarro, told reporters it was not a astonishment that prosecutors had sought the longest condemnation possible.