Legal proceedings such as those of Dominique Pelicot or Joël Le Scouarnec, the surgeon who assaulted minors for decades, demonstrate the magnitude of the problem of sexual violence and the impunity of many French criminals
For 10 years, her husband drugged her so that more than 80 men could rape her while he filmed it all. In 2022, the case came to light, and two years later, Mr Pelicot and 50 of his attackers were convicted in a trial that Gisèle Pelicot insisted be public. The shame had to change sides. Now she tells her story in a book. We met in Paris with this lucid woman who has become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence
EL PAÍS spoke with the daughter of the man who drugged his wife for years and handed her over to dozens of men to be raped. In the book ‘I’ll Never Call Him Dad Again’ she describes the horror of the discovery. And, in this interview, she regrets that the trial did not allow her to find out if she was also one of his victims
Lawyer Beatrice Zavarro defended the man at the center of a case that has shaken France and beyond, despite the ensuing isolation: ‘I did not hesitate for a second’
Dominique Pelicot has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, the maximum penalty, for raping, drugging and videotaping his wife; the other 50 defendants have also been found guilty
The man who drugged his wife for years so that dozens of men could rape her lived in a quiet village in Provence, a perfectly ordinary setting for scenes of horror. A conviction is a foregone conclusion, but the trial will serve as a laboratory for reflection in France
A French rape victim who was drugged by her husband for 10 years and raped by 51 men decided that the trial should be public, turning it into an iconic fight against sexual assault and chemical submission