French prosecutors on Tuesday sought sentences of up to 14 years for some of the remaining co-defendants in the trial of a man charged with enlisting dozens of strangers to rape his wife while she was drugged and unconscious.
The requests were made one day after prosecutors requested a maximum 20-year jail term for Dominique Pelicot, who has been trial in the southern city of Avignon since September with 49 other men for organising the rapes and sexual abuse of Gisele Pelicot, now his former wife. One man is being tried in absentia.
The case has sparked horror, protests and a debate about male violence in France. On Saturday, tens of thousands of protesters staged new demonstrations across the country against violence targeting women.
The decade long abuse of Gisele Pelicot by Dominque Pelicot was only uncovered when he was arrested for a separate upskirting offence, leading investigators to discover his meticulously-kept records of the visitors to the family home in the town Mazan in southern France.
On Tuesday, public prosector Laure Chabaud asked for a 14-year sentence for Karim S., 38, who was one of the few defendants whose messaging with Dominique Pelicot was discovered by investigators.
For Florian R., 32, who did not admit “intent” and Gregory S., 31, who was “aware of Gisele Pelicot’s altered state”, Chabaud demanded thirteen years in prison.
Co-prosecutor Jean-Francois Mayet asked for a 12-year sentence for Boris M., 37, who claimed during the hearings that he, too, was a victim.
“He says he was a victim of Dominique Pelicot, like Gisele Pelicot,” he said.
But “at no time did he seek or obtain Gisele Pelicot’s consent,” Mayet said, adding, “in reality, he was pleased with the situation presented to him” by the main defendant.
Many of the accused argued in court that they believed Dominique Pelicot’s claim that they were participating in a libertine fantasy in which his wife had consented to sexual contact and was only pretending to be asleep.
Among them, 33 have also claimed they were not in their right minds when they abused or raped Gisele Pelicot, a defence not backed by any of the psychological reports compiled by court-appointed experts.
Prosecutors also sought a 12-year jail term for Cyril B., 47, who “was well aware Gisele Pelicot should not be woken up”, and for Thierry P., 54, who said Dominique Pelicot was “solely responsible”.
On Monday, prosecutors requested a 17-year prison sentence for one defendant, Jean-Pierre M., 63, who applied Dominique Pelicot’s practices against his own wife to rape her a dozen times, sometimes in the presence of Pelicot.
Some defence lawyers have described the sentencing demands as “staggering” and “out of proportion”, claiming the public prosecutor’s office was under pressure from “public opinion”.
“I fear what will happen next,” said Louis-Alain Lemaire, a lawyer for four defendants.
The trial has made Gisele Pelicot, who insisted the hearings be held in public, a feminist icon in the fight of women against sexual abuse.
Prosecutor Mayet praised her “courage” and “dignity”, thanking her for allowing the hearings to be held in public.
The verdicts and sentencing are expected by December 20.