The main defendant in a mass rape trial that has sparked horror and protests in France was absent on Monday, September 30, because he is "unwell" and must undergo medical treatment, the presiding judge said. Dominique Pelicot, 71, has been on trial since September 2 over raping and recruiting strangers to rape his heavily sedated wife Gisèle for nearly a decade.

The trial had already been briefly suspended in mid-September due to the absence of Dominique Pelicot, who was suffering from intestinal problems. "He's unwell. He has to have medical treatment this afternoon," presiding judge Roger Arata said at the start of the hearing on Monday in the southeastern city of Avignon. "We'll see tomorrow," he added.

Dominique Pelicot had already been excused from the hearing on Friday to undergo a medical examination. His lawyer Béatrice Zavarro had told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Sunday that the examination "went well."

Pelicot has admitted to the charges against him. He is being tried along with 50 other men aged between 26 and 74, many of whom have denied the rape charge. Most risk up to 20 years in jail if convicted of aggravated rape.

Seven more defendants will be called to testify on Thursday. Among them is 46-year-old Jerome V., a former grocery store employee, who sexually assaulted Gisèle Pelicot six times in 2020 at the couple's home in the town of Mazan in southeastern France.

Gisèle Pelicot, Dominique's ex-wife who only discovered the abuse in 2020 after being told of it by police, has requested that the trial be open to the public to raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse.