“Today he considers that the judicial page must be turned and that we must consider this chapter closed” for Gisele Pelicot (C, seen in November) Beatrice Zavarro, a lawyer for Dominique Pelicot, said Monday on behalf of her client. File Photo by Guillaume Horcajuelo/EPA-EFE
The ex-husband of Gisele Pelicot said Monday he will not appeal his conviction after he and dozens of others were found guilty in December of a series of sexual crimes against his wife.
“Today he considers that the judicial page must be turned and that we must consider this chapter closed,” Beatrice Zavarro, a lawyer for Dominique Pelicot, said on behalf of her client. Advertisement
At least 17 other men have filed appeals in the city of Avignon in southeast France but more may follow.
The 72-year-old Pelicot pleaded guilty to drugging and raping his then-wife, also 72, for around a decade at their home in the village of Mazan and was sentenced on Dec. 19 to 20 years in prison.
Following a very public trial that captured the attention of the country and world, 50 other men put on trial were found guilty for their involvement and 14 pleaded guilty including.
It’s likely more than 70 men were actually complicit in the sessions but authorities could not identify them all, according to officials.
On Monday, Zavarro said Dominique “rejects” his own appeal because it would force Gisele into a “new ordeal” and “new confrontations.” Advertisement
The 20-year sentence was the maximum allowable punishment under French law.
According to French prosecutors, Monday was the last day a defendant could file an appeal.
Dominique Pelicot would meet strangers on the Internet and invite them to the couple’s home to participate in the group rapes.
The other defendants ranged in age from 26 to 74 and were given sentences ranging between three and 13 years in prison.
Many of the men surmised that consent from Gisele’s husband was permission enough. During the trial in November she said “rape is rape.”
“When you walk into a bedroom and see a motionless body, at what point (do you decide) not to react,” Gisele told the court, adding “why did you not leave immediately to report it to the police?”
