Dominique Pelicot will not be able to appear as initially planned for Monday, September 16. The hearing around the Mazan rape trial should have resumed today with the questioning of the septuagenarian accused of having drugged his wife and having delivered her for 10 years to more than 50 strangers recruited on the Internet.
But the former electrician will be absent today, his lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, told Le Figaro, confirming information from FranceInfo. 'He was taken to hospital yesterday afternoon because he is suffering from an infection in his right kidney and a clot in his bladder,' the criminal lawyer told us, denouncing 'a lack and slowness' in the medical care of her client. 'We were made fun of, I have been saying for eight days that he should receive care. There was a lack of care,' she added.
Last week, Dominique Pelicot was already feverish. Last Thursday, in the absence of the main accused, the proceedings were suspended so that Gisèle Pelicot's husband could recover. 'But if he is permanently unavailable, the case will be postponed,' the president of the court, Roger Arata, had stressed at the time.
'Dominique Pelicot's medical care is completely outdated and inconsistent with his ailments [a possible renal colic and a urinary tract infection, editor's note],' Me Béatrice Zavarro, his lawyer, had stressed to Le Figaro on Sunday, September 15. In order to raise awareness of the situation, the criminal lawyer had written an email not only to the president of the Vaucluse criminal court and the Order of Physicians, but also to the controller of places of deprivation of liberty and the director of the Pontet penitentiary center, where Dominique Pelicot is currently detained. 'If, during this weekend, Mr. Pelicot is not properly cared for, I am not sure that he will be in good shape to answer questions on Monday,' she had warned, emphasizing that it was in no way a question of Dominique Pelicot 'shirk[ing]'.
On Monday, September 9, Dominique Pelicot was already complaining of severe pain. He had been sent back to prison 'without any care being provided to him,' according to his lawyer. On Wednesday, the accused reappeared at the hearing leaning on a cane. He had only stayed a few minutes in his box before being rushed to the hospital. A medical assessment, requested by the presiding judge Roger Arata, had concluded that Dominique Pelicot's state of health had 'worsened.'
Dominique Pélicot will not return to the dock at the Vaucluse criminal court immediately. The septuagenarian, who suffers from 'a clot in the bladder and an infection in the right kidney', will not be present at the trial on Monday, September 16, his lawyer Beatrice Zavarro said on Franceinfo. The main accused, absent since Wednesday, was taken from his cell and hospitalized on Sunday evening, she said. He will therefore be 'not in a condition to appear'.
This man, accused of drugging his ex-wife Gisèle with anxiolytics to rape her and have her raped by dozens of men recruited on the internet over a ten-year period, is being tried alongside 50 other men. 'If he is permanently unavailable, the case will be postponed.'
After an expert assessment, the president of the Vaucluse criminal court, Roger Arata, had ordered on Thursday the suspension of the trial on Friday, while casting doubt on its continuity for its resumption on Monday. 'Either Pélicot is here and we continue. If he is not here for one, two or three days, we will extend the suspension,' he had initially said before adding: 'But if he is permanently unavailable, the case will be postponed.'
A referral of this case, which is closely followed in France and abroad, would cause many complications: 'Everything has to be re-established, a schedule, the availability of the room, the court, etc. And what about those who are in detention? (This is the case for 18 of the 51 co-accused) Because at that point, I can assume that there will be requests for release,' assured Béatrice Zavarro, after the announcement by the president of the court.
Scheduled to last four months, this exceptional trial, in which men aged 26 to 74, most of them accused of aggravated rape, are appearing, had already been delayed during the first two weeks of hearings.
A first speech planned for Tuesday. While the daughter and two stepdaughters of the main accused, also victims - their father and stepfather had notably photographed them naked without their knowledge - have already been heard, his two sons were not able to speak. Similarly, Gisèle Pélicot, now the accused's ex-wife, must continue her testimony.
If the proceedings resume on Monday in the presence of the main accused, the president of the court indicated that the children of the couple will be heard first, then Gisèle Pélicot again. It would then be the turn of Pierre P., the son-in-law of the couple, and finally of Joël Pélicot, the brother of the accused.
This could bring the first time Dominique Pélicot himself will speak on Tuesday. Until now, he has only said laconically that he acknowledged the facts at the opening of the trial. In the following days, the court could continue examining the facts concerning a first group of four co-accused, Jean-Pierre M., 63, Jacques C., 72, Lionel R., 44, and Cyrille D., 54.
'We are all Gisèle'. The facts against Dominique Pélicot came to light after he was arrested filming up the skirts of three women in a shopping centre in Carpentras (Vaucluse). By searching his computer, investigators discovered a decade of rapes committed on his wife Gisèle at the marital home in Mazan (Vaucluse), sexual assaults photographed, filmed, meticulously captioned and archived by the accused.
Covered by media around the world, having become the symbol of the issue of attacks committed on people who are victims of chemical submission, this trial is also taken as an example by feminist movements to relaunch the debate on the issue of consent.
And Gisèle Pélicot, who herself refused to have this case judged behind closed doors, has become a figure in the fight against sexual violence. Her stylized face was brandished all day Saturday by 10,000 people who gathered throughout France to show their support. 'We are all Gisèle', 'Rapist we see you, victim we believe you', 'You are not alone', for example chanted the 3,500 people gathered in Paris.
