French woman drugged by husband, raped by 51 men asks for public trial: ‘Shame must change sides'

Gisele Pelicot, the French woman who was raped by 51 men enlisted by her husband, has waived her legal right to anonymity. The 72-year-old woman faced all of them in court on Monday, reported The Standard.

Gisele appeared in court supported by her adult children as dozens of feminists protested outside the courtroom on the opening day of the trial on Monday. Her appearance and request for a public trial has earned her much appreciation from social media users - on X, hundreds of women applauded Gisele as brave and fearless for going public about her abuse.

The shocking case

Gisele Pelicot is the wife of Dominique Pélicot. The 71-year-old Frenchman has been accused of drugging his wife and enlisting strangers from online chatrooms to rape her. The former employee at French utility company EDF crushed sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication into his wife’s evening meal or wine to knock her out.

He then invited strangers to his home in the French village of Mazan to rape his wife.

The case has sent shockwaves through France after it emerged that Dominique spent nearly a decade inviting strangers to rape his wife. The attacks took place between 2011 and 2020.

Prosecutors said some 92 rapes took place, carried out by 72 men. 51 of these men have been identified so far. The 51 men are being tried alongside Dominique Pelicot, who, in previous hearings, has said that all of them raped his wife while knowing “she was drugged” without her knowledge.

Dominique himself filmed the assaults on his wife.

Shame must change sides

Gisele Pelicot waived her legal right to anonymity as she appeared in court on Monday.

Presiding Judge Roger Arata announced that she Pélicot would be granted her wish for ‘full publicity’ until the end of the trial.

“She could have opted for a closed trial, but that’s what her attackers would have wanted,” said Gisele’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “For the first time, she will have to live through the rapes that she endured over ten years.”

“Shame must change sides,” said her other lawyer Stéphane Babonneau.

Incredibly brave woman

“What a nightmare this woman must be enduring. Her bravery is incredible, to face the horrors she was subjected to by a person who supposedly should have been there to protect her,” wrote one X user.

“Incredibly brave of her to allow a public trial. I cannot imagine what it must have felt like to watch the videos of the men assaulting her. The shame is all theirs,” another user opined.

“Severe punishment for the sadistic perverts,” a third person asked.

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