France rape trial: Woman testifies against husband, male suspects
Gisele Pelicot, who was allegedly drugged by her now ex-husband so that she could be raped while unconscious by other men testified Thursday.
A woman who was allegedly drugged by her now ex-husband so that she could be raped while unconscious by other men testified Thursday that her world collapsed when police uncovered the years of alleged abuse.
Speaking in a calm and clear voice, Gisele Pelicot detailed to the court in the city of Avignon in southern France, the horror of discovering that her former spouse systematically filmed the suspected rapes by dozens of men — storing thousands of images that police investigators later found.
“It’s unbearable,” she testified. “I have so much to say that I don’t always know where to start.”
Dominique Pelicot, now 71, and 50 other men are standing trial on charges of rape and face up to 20 years in prison. The trial started on Monday and is expected to run until December. Thursday marked the first time that Gisele Pelicot had testified.
The Associated Press doesn’t generally identify victims of sexual crimes. But Gisele Pelicot’s lawyer, Stéphane Babonneau, said she accepted that her name be published in the same way that she insisted that the trial be held in public.
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