The convicted sex offenders were greeted by angry crowds today as they left the court in Avignon, with protesters who have been supporting Gisele Pelicot during her rape trial ordeal declaring: “Shame on you!” as the men emerged.
The criminals faced the fury of feminist protesters waiting outside the court, with dozens of women turning up to cheer on Madame Pelicot, protest against what many consider an inadequate justice system and reprimand the guilty.
Firefighters, soldiers, truck drivers, a DJ and a journalist were among those found guilty of raping and sexually abusing Gisele, 71, at the behest of her husband Dominique Pelicot for a decade, all without her knowledge.
The defendants hid behind masks and hoods as they entered court this morning, and several returned this afternoon after receiving sentences equivalent to or less than those they already served.
One of the accused had to be protected by police as he left the court after serving time in pre-trial detention, while angry protesters mocked him as he protected his head and hid his face.
Supporters of Gisele Pelicot chanted “rapists, we can see them” while holding signs reading “prison for all” and “Christmas in prison, Easter in prison” as Pelicot’s accomplices arrived at court this morning.
Some protesters even brought oranges as a symbolic gift for the men going to jail. Giving oranges to defendants is considered a traditional act of shame in France, indicating that the person receiving the orange will go to prison.
Meanwhile, a defense lawyer for one of the dozens of convicts taunted the women outside court as he left the trial today, insulting them and labeling them “hysterical knitters” in a bizarre rant.
Police had to protect the man who was hiding behind a mask and hood from angry protesters who were taunting him.
Gisele Pelicot leaves the court after hearing the verdict of the court that sentenced her ex-husband to the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison
One of the sex offenders was met by an angry crowd as he tried to leave the court after the sentence was handed down.
Other defendants tried to hide their faces with masks and caps.
Christophe Bruschi, lawyer for one of the co-defendants, has a heated argument with one of the women outside the trial
An accomplice was seen hanging his head in shame as he entered the court.
One of the defendants arrives at the Avignon court on December 19, 2024, after being booed by the crowd outside.
A man holds a sign that reads: “Christmas in prison, Easter in prison.”
Defense lawyer Christophe Bruschi, who represented Joseph Cocco, a 69-year-old man who was sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted of sexual assault, boasted that his client had “walked free” after serving his sentence. .
Shocking footage shows the lawyer laughing at protesters, labeling them “a bunch of hysterical knitters” and mocking them by saying “my client has a message for you, the message is bullshit.”
He went on to say: ‘Their request for 20-year prison sentences for all defendants has been rejected. My client has walked free… He thanks you and says: “Up with yours!”
Bruschi smiled as he left the court and told waiting reporters: ‘I don’t want to provoke anyone when I pass by. I have people who are screaming. We can all be a little provocative sometimes, right?
“But when it comes to these debates, I have listened and asked questions,” he insisted.
Brushci’s client Cocco, a pensioner and one of the oldest defendants in the famous trial, was prosecuted for “group sexual assault” and not rape or attempted rape.
“It was difficult to get an erection,” he said in his defense during the trial, adding that he stayed at the Pelicots’ house for 10 minutes and then left.
‘If I had known what he was doing to his wife, I would have reported him. This is atrocious,’ he said.
Found guilty of sexual assault, he has been sentenced to three years in prison, which he has already served while awaiting trial.
He was just one of dozens of men invited by Dominique Pelicot to rape his unconscious wife at their home in Mazan, southern France, all without her knowledge.
Bruschi unleashed anger in France after calling feminist protesters ‘weavers’
Bruschi went on a bizarre tirade when confronted by protesters, saying he had a message from his client and insulting them.
Defense attorney Bruschi got into a furious fight with one of the protesters while taunting the women about his client’s sentencing.
The man tried to hide his face as police led him through the crowd.
An activist holds a sign reading “Prison for all” outside the Avignon court this morning
The 72-year-old man, nicknamed the Monster of Avignon, drugged, raped and organized the repeated rape and sexual abuse of his now ex-wife, and today received the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for his crimes. .
Firefighters, soldiers, truck drivers, a DJ and a journalist are among those found guilty of raping Gisele, 71, at the behest of her husband of nearly a decade.
In total, the court found 47 of the defendants guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape, and two guilty of sexual assault.
The guilty verdicts came this morning, and the judge read each of the charges before handing down the sentences. All of the defendants received at least one conviction for horrific sexual crimes.
In a side room where relatives of the defendants watched the proceedings on television screens, some burst into tears and gasped as the sentences were revealed.
Protesters gathered outside the courthouse followed the proceedings on their phones, some reading the verdicts and applauding as they were announced inside.
Gisele Pelicot’s children reacted angrily when some of the sentences were read, deploring that “it is not possible,” since a convicted rapist was sentenced to only five years in prison. The family has said they are “disappointed by the low sentences.”
Pelicot, who has been labeled the “conductor” of the “orchestra” of rapists, slouched in his chair and sobbed as his sentence, the longest of any defendant, was read.
While Dominique Pelicot’s 20-year sentence is the maximum he could have received under French law, activists and many members of French society have criticized what they see as lenient sentences for the other defendants.
The 51 men faced a combined sentence of 600 years before prison terms that would be handed down today. They will serve only a fraction of this: a collective 400-year sentence handed down by a five-judge panel.
Gisele Pelicot arrives in front of the courthouse before a verdict is issued in the Pelicot case on December 19, 2024 in Avignon, France.
A large banner that activists hung on a city wall in front of the courthouse read: ‘MERCI GISELE’ – thank you Gisele
Judge Arata told six defendants that they were now free, taking into account the time they had already spent in custody awaiting trial.
The trial, which lasted more than three months, galvanized anti-sexual violence activists and spurred calls for tougher measures to eradicate rape culture.
All of the defendants were accused of having participated in Dominique Pelicot’s sordid rape and abuse fantasies that were acted out at the couple’s nursing home in the small Provençal town of Mazan and elsewhere.
Dominique Pelicot testified that he hid tranquilizers in the food and drink he gave his then-wife, knocking her unconscious so deeply that he could do whatever he wanted to her for hours.
This court sketch shows Gisele Pelicot during the verdict hearing.
One of the men was convicted and sentenced to 12 years in prison not for assaulting Gisele Pelicot but for drugging and raping his own wife, with the help and drugs of Dominique Pelicot, who was also found guilty of raping the wife. of that man.
The five judges voted on their rulings in a secret ballot, with a majority vote for convictions and sentences.
Activists against sexual violence had hoped for exemplary prison sentences and saw the trial as a possible turning point in the fight against sexual violence and the use of drugs to subdue victims.
The Pelicot house in the village of Mazan, now known as the house of horrors.
Two women hold signs saying “thank you Gisele” in support of the French grandmother
Gisele Pelicot’s bravery in waiving her right to anonymity as a survivor of sexual abuse and successfully pushing for hearings and shocking evidence (including videos) to be heard in open court has fueled conversations both nationally in France and among families, couples and groups of friends on how to better protect women and the role men can play in achieving that goal.
“Men are starting to talk to women – their girlfriends, mothers and friends – in a way they haven’t before,” said Fanny Foures, 48, who joined other women from the feminist group Les Amazones to hit messages of support for Gisele Pelicot on walls surrounding Avignon before the verdict.
“At first it was awkward, but now real dialogues are happening,” he said.
“Some women are realizing, perhaps for the first time, that their ex-husbands raped them or that someone close to them committed abuse,” Foures added. ‘And men are starting to take into account their own behavior or complicity, things they have ignored or failed to act on. It is heavy, but it is generating changes.”
A large banner that activists hung on a city wall in front of the courthouse read: ‘MERCI GISELE’ – thank you Gisele.