In France, a woman was raped by 51 men and declared at the beginning of the trial: “My world is collapsing”

Gisele Pelicot declared before the courts for the trial that began this Monday in the south of Franceagainst her husband retired accused of drug her for ten years to be raped by strangers contacted via the Internet in France.

“The police saved my life,” said the victim of 71 years old who has already begun to testify before the Avignon criminal court, on the fourth day of this mega-trial against 51 menincluding her own husband, for aggravated rape between 2011 and 2020.

This case, which has horrified France, came to light by chance when her husband, Dominique Pelicot71 years old, was caught in 2020 in a shopping center Filming under the skirts of clients.

The researchers They then found on their computers, hard drives and USB keys, almost 4,000 photos and videos of the victim, visibly unconscious, while dozens of strangers They raped“My world is collapsing, everything is collapsing, everything I built 50 years ago,” he said. Gisele remembering moments through photographs.

In the image, “eI am inert, in my bed and they are raping me. These are barbaric scenes.“She told the five judges about the rapes organized by the father of her three children. That same day, the victim refused to watch the videos found by investigators about the surroundings 200 rapes which he suffered, first in the Paris region and then in the south of France, until 2020.

“They treat me like a rag doll“I wonder how I held out,” she said, estimating that she was “sacrificed on the altar of vice.” With anguish and sadness she added that “the body is warm, not cold, but I’m dead in my bed“.

How the trial continues

The defendants face up to 20 years in prison In this trial, with Roger Arata as president of the court, which should last until December 20thThe first interrogation of his is scheduled for next week. husbandwith whom she is currently in the process of divorce.

“It will be explained, it will be justified, if there is any justification, because it is unforgivable“the defendant’s lawyer stated, Beatrice Zavarroindicating that his client, who had followed his wife’s statement with his head down, “broke down” during the break.

The woman wanted to conduct this trial as a example about the use of drugs in rape and, at the beginning of the process, rejection that this be done behind closed doors as requested in vain by the prosecution and part of the defense.

“I speak for all these women who are drugged and don’t know it, on behalf of all these women who may never know it,” the victim stressed, adding that her goal and objective in speaking out is “so that no more women have to suffer chemical submission“.