The lawyer for ‘Monster of Avignon’ Dominque Pelicot has issued a major update as 17 of the men he invited to rape his wife Gisele Pelicot look set to appeal their sentences
As 17 men convicted of raping Gisele Pelicot decide to appeal their sentences, her husband responsible for organising all the other rapes has said he will not be joining them.
Dominque Pelicot was jailed for 20 years – the maximum sentence in France – earlier this month for raping his wife while she was unconscious. He invited other men to their home to rape her too. 50 were sentenced alongside Pelicot after a historic trial which shocked the world, and now 17 say they will appeal their sentences.
His lawyer Béatrice Zavarro claimed Pelicot wants to spare his ex-wife the ordeal of another trial. “He decided not to appeal, because he says it would be a new ordeal and new confrontations for his wife, who he always said in the debates was not his adversary,” Zavarro said on FranceInfo Radio.
Charly Arbo, a 30-year-old vineyard worker, is one of the men reported to be launching an appeal. Arbo went to Pelicot’s home on six different occasions and was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
He was also accused of raping her on the night of her 66th birthday. Video evidence showed him talking about drugging and raping his own mother with Dominique Pelicot.
The court in the southern French city of Avignon handed down sentences ranging from three to 20 years in jail. The trial began on September 2 this year, nearly two years after French police made Ms Pelicot aware of videos showing dozens of men raping her at the couple’s home while she was unconscious.
Investigators had seized Pelicot’s devices after he was caught filming up the skirts of women in a supermarket in Carpentras, a town nearby Mazan. He was arrested on September 12, 2020, and Ms Pelicot was made aware of the footage just over two months later on November 2.
She moved out of the couple’s home a day after police said they believed her husband had drugged her and invited the men who raped her to their home. Police made the first arrests of other men charged in the case in 2021, and the trial began earlier this year with testimony from Ms Pelicot, who took to the stand following her decision to make the trial public.
She vowed to change the way society handles rape in a heartfelt statement. Following the sentences, Ms Pelicot said she was overcome by emotion as she stood outside the courthouse to address the awaiting media.
Holding back tears, she told reporters: “This case was a very difficult test for me and my three children and grandchildren. They are the future and for them I wanted to push through his struggle. I’m also thinking about the families affected by this case.
“This case was a very difficult test for me and my three children and grandchildren. They are the future and for them I wanted to push through his struggle. I’m also thinking about the families affected by this case.”
