France Avignon abuse trial: main perpetrator accepts sentence
In the Avignon rape trial in the south of France, the ex-husband sentenced to the maximum penalty of 20 years in prison accepts the verdict.
30.12.2024, 11:34
SDA
"Dominique Pelicot has decided not to appeal against the sentence imposed on him," his lawyer Béatrice Zavarro told France Info.
The 72-year-old does not want to put his ex-wife through the burden of further appeal proceedings. Instead, she will try to influence the conditions of his imprisonment, the lawyer said.
The court in Avignon had convicted Pelicot of aggravated rape shortly before Christmas. The pensioner had repeatedly drugged his then wife Gisèle for almost ten years, abused her and had her raped by dozens of strangers. The court sentenced 50 co-defendants to prison terms of between 3 and 15 years.
Many of the co-defendants are appealing
There will most likely still be an appeal trial, as 17 of the 50 co-defendants have already lodged an appeal. The deadline for this expires on Monday evening. If, in the end, half or more than half of those convicted appeal, it may make sense to hear all the defendants on the witness stand in the appeal proceedings, said the lawyer.
Her lawyer Stéphane Babonneau had already told France Inter the day after the verdict was announced that Gisèle Pelicot was not afraid of an appeal. "In any case, she is not afraid of it. In other words, if it comes to that, she has already told us that she will face it - if she is healthy enough, of course, because she is now 72 years old."
