The French Prosecutor’s Office has requested this Monday 20 years in prison for Dominique Pelicot, the main defendant in the Mazan case, for the crime of aggravated rape. The septuagenarian drugged his then wife, Gisèle Pelicot, for almost a decade, and then invited dozens of men to have sexual relations with her. Mr. Pelicot was in charge of recording these encounters, stored for years in a folder titled “abuse,” where investigators found nearly a hundred images.
The judicial process, which began last September, has lasted for 12 weeks and will be sentenced on December 20, as scheduled. After the allegations of the defense and the civil party, this week it is the turn of the prosecutor’s officewho will ask the court for a sentence for each of the 51 defendants involved, one of whom is on the run. The representatives Jean-François Mayet and Laure Chabaud They began this Monday with the request for Pelicot’s sentence and will continue, at a rate of 15 minutes per defendant, over the next two days.
The 20-year sentence requested for Dominique Pelicot, the maximum possible, “is both a lot and very little,” Chabaud considered, given “the seriousness of the repeated events.” The requisitionit’s no surprise“, stated the accused’s lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, to the French network BFMTV. “We knew very well that we were and are the common denominator of the sexual scenes that occurred from 2011 to 2020. There is little surprise,” he expressed.
The attorney general has taken the opportunity to thank the “extraordinary” work carried out by the investigators and the investigating judge, Gwenola Journot, in the last four years, an assessment that also applies to “the magnitude of the events and their unimaginable seriousness.” Thus, Mayet recalled that they met more than 20,000 photos and videosboth from Gisèle Pelicot, “always unconscious”, and from her daughter, Caroline Darian. Dominique Pelicot has always denied having abused her.
“I celebrate your bravery and dignity with which he has expressed himself during these long weeks of hearings,” he told Gisèle Pelicot. At first, the Prosecutor’s Office requested a closed trial, but “it was without knowing his strength and that admirable burst of resilience,” said Mayet, who considers that the decision to hold open hearings was a success so that “the shame changes its side.”
The public ministry has also requested 17 prison sentences for Jean-Pierre M., a disciple of Pelicot who, although he never touched Gisèle, He applied the same methods with his own wife. The experts mentioned in relation to his case a “notion of influence” on the part of Mr. Pelicot, which would have guided him in the process, which “reduces the capacity for judgment. In turn, they note “a positive position” in the accused, “which allows him to stay away from any feeling of guilt,” as well as “a weak propensity for introspection” and “a low criminal danger.”
Prosecutors have also requested 5 years of probation after conviction and a sentence of 3 additional years if these measures are not respected.
The vast majority of those accused are tried for an alleged crime of aggravated rape and face a 20 years in prison. The sentence, individualized for each of those involved, will take into account their criminal record and the times they visited the Pelicot home, located in the municipality of Mazan. Some only answered the husband’s call once, while some even entered Gisèle’s room. up to six times.
However, French law requires that there be some type of penetration “of any nature” for it to constitute the crime of rape. Since 2021, any “oral-genital act” is also considered rape. In those cases in which these facts cannot be proven, the accused would face a conviction for the crime of aggravated sexual assault, which carries maximum sentences. 7 years and 100,000 euros fine.
