Shocking rape trial highlights the systematic struggles sexual abuse victims face

Gisele Pelicot speaks to media as she leaves the Avignon court house, southern France, last week

The trial of dozens of men accused of raping an unconscious woman whose husband repeatedly drugged her over the course of nearly a decade has highlighted the difficulties that sexual violence victims can face in France.

Dominique Pelicot, 71, and his 50 co-defendants face up to 20 years in prison if they’re convicted at a trial that has shocked the world and riveted the French public.

Pelicot tearfully acknowledged in court that he’s guilty of the allegations against him, and he said all of his co-defendants understood exactly what they were doing when he invited them to his home in Provence between 2011 and 2020 to have sex with his unconscious and unwitting wife, who divorced him after learning what he had done to her.

Despite evidence including meticulously archived photos and videos that Pelicot shot of the alleged rapes, some of the defendants’ lawyers have scrutinized Gisèle Pelicot’s private life and motives, even questioning whether she was truly unconscious during some of the encounters. Although they must defend their clients to the best of their abilities, the lawyers’ tactics have outraged advocates for the sexually abused, who say the attorneys show that victim-blaming is alive and well in France.

“This trial is the trial of our society,” 27-year-old Nathan Paris, who works in a youth shelter, said this week outside the Avignon courthouse. Paris, a victim of sexual violence himself, has made the trip from Marseille on several occasions since the trial began.

“The French population has evolved … and I feel like justice has not evolved over that time,” he said, vowing to keep coming back until the trial ends.

The co-defendants range in age from their 20s to their 70s and represent a cross-section of French men: There is a firefighter, a journalist, a nurse, a prison guard and a construction worker. Some are retired, some are unemployed and many have families of their own. One knew he had HIV when he raped Gisèle Pelicot on six occasions and chose not to wear a condom, according to police. She didn’t contract HIV, though she was found to have other sexually transmitted diseases, a medical expert testified.

Magali Lafourcade, a judge and general secretary of the National Consultative Commission of Human Rights who is not involved in the trial, said the fight against sexual violence in France has slightly improved since the start of the #MeToo movement, which has brought down some of France’s most well-known actors and film directors, among other notables. Women have always talked, but their voices are now being heard more, she said.

“For a very long time, we saw the rape and killing of women by men as something that pertained to the private sphere — we thought we should not interfere with people’s private lives,” Lafourcade said.

“There has been a clear change, or revolution even, with this perception since #MeToo,” she added.

Civic groups have lobbied hard in recent years so that judges, politicians and the media understand that sexual violence is not just a private affair, but also a societal, political and financial one, Lafourcade said.

French President Emmanuel Macron has promised to prioritize gender equality and combat violence against women. But France’s public policies are still lagging, and more resources and effort need to be put toward going after sexual offenders, experts told The Associated Press. DIANE JEANTET, AVIGNON, MDT/AP