Gisele Pelicot, the 72-year-old victim of mass rape whose ordeal has shocked the world, told a trial in southern France on Wednesday that she was determined that making her case public should help other women and change society.
Dominique Pelicot, her husband, has admitted to inviting dozens of strangers over nearly ten years to their house to rape her after he had drugged her. Fifty other men also stand trial, accused of raping her.
Gisele Pelicot speaks to media as she leaves the Avignon court house, southern France.Credit: AP
Gisele Pelicot, her voice often shaking with emotion, told the court she was destroyed by what happened to her. She said how “unbelievably violent” it was for her that many of the accused in the trial, which started on September 2, said they thought she agreed to the rapes or was faking sleep.
“I’ve decided not to be ashamed, I’ve done nothing wrong,” Gisele Pelicot, who has become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence, told the court in Avignon.
She said she had insisted the trial be held publicly and not behind closed doors, as is often the case to protect rape victims, in the hope it would help other rape victims.
“They (rapists) are the ones who must be ashamed,” she said, adding that having videos, filmed by her husband, of some of her rapes, shown during the trial, was “very difficult but necessary.”
“I’m not expressing hatred or hate, but I am determined that things change in this society,” said Gisele Pelicot.
Protests have been organised across France to show support for Gisele Pelicot, with many women expressing admiration for her courage.
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