Gisèle Pelicot takes the stand in the French mass rape trial

Gisèle Pelicot, the French woman whose former husband is on trial for drugging and raping her during their marriage and inviting dozens of other men to rape her, took the stand in court on Wednesday.

She told the court in Avignon that she wanted women who were raped to know that “it's not our job to feel shame – it's their job.”

“I want all women who were raped to say: Madame Pelicot did it, I can do it too. I don't want them to be ashamed any longer,” she said, referring to her request for an open trial and the videos of the alleged rapes to be shown.

Ms Pelicot, 71, took the stand after her legal team asked that she be given an opportunity to respond to the evidence and witness statements presented so far in the trial.

She said in recent weeks she has witnessed various wives, mothers and sisters of the defendants take the stand and say the defendants are “extraordinary men.”

“This is exactly what I had at home,” she added. “But a rapist isn’t just someone you meet in a dark parking lot late at night. You can also find it in the family, among friends.”

Ms Pelicot said she was “completely destroyed” and needed to rebuild herself. “I don’t know if my whole life will be enough to understand it,” she added.

Addressing her former husband as Mr Pelicot, she said: “I wish I could still call him Dominique. We lived together for 50 years, I was a happy, fulfilled woman.”

“You were a caring, attentive husband and I never doubted you. We laughed and cried together,” she added, her voice breaking.

She filed for divorce from Dominique in 2021.

Some readers may find the details of this story disturbing.

Dominique has admitted recruiting men online to rape his wife while she was under the effects of powerful sedatives and sleeping pills that he secretly administered to her between 2010 and 2020.

Ms Pelicot said she was lucky to have him by her side when she suffered from health problems which were later found to be linked to the medication he gave her.

“I'm trying to understand how this man who was perfect for me could do this. How could he have betrayed me at this point? “How could you let these strangers into my bedroom?” she said.

“I want to tell him: I have always tried to lift you higher, towards the light. You have chosen the darkest depths of human nature. You are the one who made this choice.”

Ms Pelicot said Dominique often cooked meals for her and brought her ice cream after dinner – a method he later said he used to drug her: “I always said to him, 'How lucky I am.' , you are a sweetheart.” , you really care about me.

She added that she never felt light-headed or felt her heart racing and that she must have fainted quickly when she was drugged. She woke up the next morning in her own bed feeling particularly tired, but said she thought it was because of the long walks.

“I had gynecological problems and would wake up some mornings feeling like my water had broken. The signs were there, but I never knew how to decipher them,” she added.

Ms. Pelicot and her lawyers also discussed whether Dominique may have suffered from an inferiority complex due to an affair with a colleague, a perceived difference in social status between them, or the fact that she had a loving childhood and he did not.

Returning to the reaction the trial had sparked, she said: “I was told I was brave. This doesn’t mean being brave, but having the will and determination to change society.”

“Courage means jumping into the sea to save someone. I just have will and determination,” she said.

“That's why I come here every day…Even when I hear unspeakable things, I hold on because of all the men and women who are right behind me.”

She said she never regretted asking for the trial to be opened: “I did it because what happened to me can never happen again.”

Most of the alleged rapes were filmed.

The majority of defendants deny raping Ms. Pelicot and argue that they cannot be guilty because they did not know she was unconscious and therefore did not “know” they were raping her.

Although she was present in court most days, Ms. Pelicot took the stand only twice.

The last time, on September 18, she said she felt “humiliated” by suggestions that she take part in a sex game in which she pretended to be asleep as the men her husband had recruited online agreed came home to them.

“These men came to rape me. What I hear in this courtroom is so demeaning, so humiliating,” she said.

The trial attracted widespread interest in France, where Ms Pelicot has become a feminist icon – not least because she waived her right to anonymity and requested an open trial. Her legal team said opening the trial would shift the “shame” back onto the defendant.

Last Saturday, demonstrations in support of Ms. Pelicot took place in more than a dozen French cities. Several feminist organizations are also calling on the French government to add a consent clause to the rape law.

The trial opened on September 2nd. Despite lengthy daily negotiations, the hearing is only about half complete due to the large number of defendants who need to be heard.

A verdict is expected at the end of December.

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