In Avignon, southern France, Gisèle Pelicot, 71, testified against her estranged husband and 50 other men accused of raping her over nearly a decade. On 5 September 2024, during her trial, Gisèle detailed the horrific events. Her testimony revealed that her husband had been drugging her for years and inviting strangers to their home to rape her while she was unconscious. Court documents indicated that her husband admitted to deriving satisfaction from watching other men assault his incapacitated wife.
The investigation uncovered that her husband had filmed and documented these assaults, creating a hard drive with approximately 4,000 photos and videos. Evidence showed around 200 rapes occurred between 2011 and 2020, initially at their home near Paris and later in Mazan, where they moved in 2013. Investigators have identified 50 of the 72 suspects who are now on trial. The accused range in age from 22 to 74, including firemen, soldiers, truck drivers, and an IT expert. Many of the men have pleaded not guilty.
With more than fifty men on trial, the court has constructed a second glass box to accommodate them. Pelicot, despite having the option to keep the trial private, chose to make it public to ensure that her story was heard and to shame the accused. Gisèle stated, “We must address this scourge.”
Her husband, who has pleaded guilty to charges including aggravated rape and drugging, faces up to 20 years in prison. He is also charged with violating his family’s privacy by illegally recording intimate photos.
Gisèle told the court that they were married for more than fifty years and they had three children and seven grandchildren. She recounted how, after she retired and moved to Mazan in 2023, she experienced memory loss and weight loss. She stated that she would sometimes wake in the morning without remembering to say goodbye to her children or get into bed. While her husband supported her visiting doctor to check her for a brain tumour or Alzheimer’s, she never imagined her husband was drugging her.
The truth came to light when the husband was caught filming a woman underneath her skirt in a grocery store, leading to a police investigation that uncovered thousands of disturbing videos and images.
In court, Gisèle described her bedroom as a “torture chamber” and expressed disbelief at her survival. Despite contemplating suicide after learning of her husband’s actions, she found strength through her children and friends. She has since divorced him and legally changed her surname.
Women For Change condemns the horrific actions revealed in the case of Gisèle Pelicot. The extreme abuse and violation endured by Gisèle, orchestrated by her husband and enabled by numerous men, underscores the severe and pervasive issue of gender-based violence all over the world.