Gang rape trial draws thousands of demonstrators in France

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

A story now that contains disturbing details about sexual assault. This report will last about 5 minutes. A trial taking place in France has shaken the country, sparking a debate about violence against women. Fifty-one men are on trial for raping a woman who was drugged by her husband. NPR’s Eleanor Beardsley reports.

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Chanting in French).

ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Thousands of people gathered in Paris and other cities across France this weekend in support of 72-year-old Giselle Pelico. They chanted, we are all Giselle, and the shame must change sides. For more than 10 years, Pelico’s husband drugged her and invited other men into their home to abuse her while she was unconscious as he filmed it. She could have remained anonymous and chosen for the trial to be held behind closed doors, says Stephanie Pommier and Geraldine Pacaut, but she didn’t.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: We’re very proud of her ’cause she’s very strong, and what she did – she’s really brave. She insisted the trial to be public. And it is very important because she’s a voice of every women.

BEARDSLEY: These protesters are demanding an end to what they call France’s rape culture, which they describe as the minimization and normalization of violence against women. Activists here say only 6% of rapists are convicted and that many rape victims don’t even go to the police because they feel they won’t be taken seriously. Trial of her now ex-husband Dominique Pelico, and 50 other men is taking place in the Southern French city of Avignon. It will last four months.

I’m at the courthouse, and there’s just a line of women, young and old, waiting to get inside, and I’m talking to a few of them.

DANY BEAUJOUAN: (Speaking French).

BEARDSLEY: “This is the most sordid and sickening case,” says 66-year-old Dany Beaujouan. “Her husband recruited people via an internet site and drugged her. The only reason she discovered the horror of what she was suffering is the police called her in and showed her the photos and videos her husband made. This trial is very important, and we want to see maximum sentences.”

For years, Pelico couldn’t understand her memory lapses and blackouts. She suspected Alzheimer’s. She went to doctors who found nothing. The police only discovered the photos and videos on her husband’s computer after he was caught trying to film up women’s skirts in a grocery store.

I sit in the courtroom listening to a police officer describe the men’s sexual games and fantasy world and a psychologist describe how some had been abused themselves when they were young. They are every man, a fireman, a truck driver, a computer technician. Eighteen of the men sit in a specially built glass box – those in pretrial detention – the others sit on the benches with journalists like me. Sylvie Menvielle is a lawyer for one of the defendants. She says they all risk 20 years in prison, but their profiles are different.

SYLVIE MENVIELLE: (Through interpreter) There are some who went once and others five or six times. And don’t forget, they consider they were invited by the husband. So the notion of intention to commit rape is the central question in this debate.

BEARDSLEY: Blandine Deverlanges is head of feminist organization Les Amazones d’Avignon, and we speak by phone. She says this case has shocked women to the core.

BLANDINE DEVERLANGES: Where is humanity? It’s like two worlds, the real world where women live and most of normal men, and another world with men making a war against women, making plans together to rape us, and nobody telling, oh, we should maybe stop because they are human, too.

BEARDSLEY: This case makes Yael Mellul, a domestic violence lawyer, wonder about society. She says Pelico was losing her hair and complained of mysterious fatigue for years. So she wonders why did no one notice?

YAEL MELLUL: (Through interpreter) What is this society of exacerbated individualism? Pushed to the limit that left a woman to be tortured for 10 years. This is impossible to comprehend.

BEARDSLEY: Pelico’s husband has already admitted his guilt, but that’s not the case for many of the other accused. Pelico spoke to the media after she testified a week ago with her alleged rapists in the courtroom.

GISELLE PELICO: (Speaking French).

BEARDSLEY: She said she felt pressure and tried to answer questions the best she could and would fight till the very end. Pelico went public, she said, because she didn’t want any other woman to live what she had.

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Chanting in French).

BEARDSLEY: In demonstrations Saturday, people carried pictures of Pelico, now a face everyone seems to recognize with her red page boy haircut and sunglasses. For many in France, Giselle Pelico is now a symbol of courage and defiance. She’s gone from victim to hero. Eleanor Beardsley, NPR News, Paris. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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