E There is a time before and a time after the Pelicot trial. Previously, Mann thought it was an isolated incident. It was thought that rapists would at least confess their crimes if they were filmed. For the period that has now begun, it was hoped that it would be associated with less hatred of women, a fairer justice system, and a changed and more conscious society.
The verdict, handed down in Avignon last Thursday after a three-month and 17-day trial, is a victory that is both sobering and disappointing. Of the total 652 years that the public prosecutor's office demanded for the 51 defendants, only 428 were given. 224 years disappear into thin air. Except for Dominique Pelicot's sentence, everyone else's sentence was reduced; six defendants are at large. “Mon client est libre!”, “My client is free,” shouts Maître Bruschi, Joseph C.’s defense attorney, in the faces of the demonstrators in front of the courtroom. They chant: “Shame on the justice system!”
Rape in France can be punished with up to 15 years in prison. If there are aggravating circumstances, it can be up to 20 – only Dominique Pelicot received that much. 20 years for the mass rape of his then-wife, for filming without her knowledge, for drugging him, for handing him over to almost a hundred other men – only half were brought to trial.
20 years is a slap on the wrist for this monstrous act. A slap with an absurd consequence: the sentences of the other defendants were considered in relation to his sentence.
Romain V., for example, raped Gisèle Pelicot six times, without a condom, even though he is HIV-positive. He was 15 years old. Why not the maximum penalty? Just because he's not Dominique Pelicot? Or Saifeddine G.: On the video from the bedroom you could see his hips moving back and forth, but he said he didn't have an erection.
Because he couldn't successfully penetrate Gisèle Pelicot, he got three years. It's not rape either, What if the man doesn't get his fun? Philippe L. first penetrated Pelicot with his finger and was around five years old. Is penetration with a finger a third party rape?
Meditating on these questions is painful as a woman. And pointless when you consider that there is good evidence that harsher punishments do not deter people from becoming criminals. People forget that the trial achieved a huge goal: none of the 51 defendants escaped innocent – not even the 32 men who pleaded guilty. Gisèle Pelicot wanted her children and grandchildren to be able to bear this surname with pride. “If the world remembers this name, it will not be because of Monsieur Pelicot, but because of me.” She also achieved her goal.
The trial provides a discussion that goes beyond mere punishment. From the outset, it presented the opportunity for a major awakening to the dangers that women face, real dangers that do not only exist in the Provençal hinterland.
Research by STRG_F published on Wednesday uncovers an international network of rapists on the messaging platform Telegram. They give each other tips in various chat rooms about the best anesthetics, exchange pictures and videos of the rapes, and get instructions from other members about which orifice or object they should penetrate the drugged person with next. The group has almost 73,000 members, including from Germany. We also know: Dominique Pelicot is everywhere. Mazan is everywhere.
When STRG_F confronted various authorities, including the New York Police Department, the German Federal Ministry of Justice, but also Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, with the information, they appeared quite uninterested. The Telegram groups continue to exist, just as coco.gg – the site on which Dominique Pelicot offered his wife to others for rape in the room “à son insu” (“without her knowledge”) – existed for four years afterward Pelicot 2020 has been deleted.
Inadequate, poorly equipped, indifferent. An uncomfortable but accurate description for those who are supposed to provide protection and justice for victims. One might get the impression that the women in charge are not important enough. The system is broken and needs to be repaired.
But despite all the disappointment, we owe Gisèle Pelicot great hope. As she left the courtroom after the verdict was announced and addressed the numerous media waiting for her, she ended optimistically: “I now have confidence in our ability to shape a future together in which women and men live in harmony, mutual respect and understanding . “can live.” So that this future will come to pass at some point.
