The main defendant in a mass rape trial that has shocked France was expected back in court on Tuesday, September 17, after being ill for around a week, his lawyer said.
Dominique Pelicot, a 71-year-old on trial since September 2 over raping and recruiting strangers to rape his heavily sedated wife for almost a decade, was absent from the trial Monday after being excused for most of last week.
"We received a message from the presiding judge saying that Dominique Pelicot would be attending the hearing tomorrow, with specific adjustment conditions, namely the sequencing of testimonies and regular rest intervals," his lawyer Beatrice Zavarro said on Monday evening.
The presiding judge had on Thursday adjourned the trial to Monday, but when the day came Pelicot did not show up.
Zavarro earlier in the day told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Pelicot was still not well enough to attend as he was suffering from "a clot in the bladder" and the beginning of a kidney infection. After a short deliberation, presiding judge Roger Arata suspended proceedings for the rest of the day pending a medical examination.
Pelicot, who has admitted to the charges against him, has not yet testified at the trial in the southern French city of Avignon. He is being tried along with 50 other men aged between 26 and 74 – many of whom have denied the rape charge – for alleged involvement in a case that has horrified France. Most risk up to 20 years in jail if convicted of aggravated rape.
Gisèle Pelicot, his ex-wife who only discovered the abuse in 2020 after being troubled by memory lapses, has requested that the trial be open to the public to raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse.
Thousands took to the streets across French cities at the weekend to demand an end to rape and to support her. "We are all Gisèle," a large crowd chanted in Paris. In the southern city of Marseille, activists hung up a banner on the city's court building calling for alleged perpetrators – not victims – to be ashamed.
Earlier on Monday, Gisèle Pelicot thanked the demonstrators. "Thanks to you I have the strength to see this fight through to the end," she said. She said she was doing it for "all people – women and men – around the world who are victims of sexual violence." "To all those victims, I would like to say today: 'Look around you, you are not alone.'"