At the Vaucluse departmental criminal court,
Suddenly, a heavy, even dizzying silence fell over the Vaucluse criminal court. This September 19, for the first time since the opening of the Mazan rape trial, three short videos are projected in the room. In these three films that Dominique Pelicot took care to name – “Cunni et pipe Jacques”, “Jacques fingerage” and “Pipe moi” – we see the victim inert on her bed being touched and cunnilingus by Jacques C., the oldest of the accused, as well as forced fellatio from her husband, pushing her to the brink of suffocation. The loud snoring of Gisèle Pelicot, whose unconsciousness is obvious, is heady.
Will this broadcast be an exception? This is the whole subject of the debate which is being held this Friday morning before the criminal court. Debate which already promises to be heated. The day after the viewing, the president of the court, Roger Arata decided that from now on the broadcast would be done “on a case by case” and not for all the accused, as requested by the attorney general, supported by the civil parties. and Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer. “Considering that these images are indecent and shocking”, the magistrate also decided to exclude the press from the courtroom. Words that recall those used a few minutes earlier by certain defense lawyers. One spoke of a “nauseating unpacking”, another “voyeurism”.
“Irrefutable proof of the rapes and violence I suffered”
This decision goes against the wishes of Gisèle Pelicot. “What matters to me is that these videos, which are irrefutable proof of the rapes and violence I suffered, are broadcast only in this room,” she explained two days earlier. Because unlike the majority of trials for sexual violence in which material evidence is sorely lacking, investigators discovered nearly 4,000 photos and videos, meticulously archived by Dominique Pelicot. Each time he had a man come to his house, he took care to film him and then kept the images. An essential element in this case where 35 of the 50 accused deny the facts.
At the request of Gisèle Pelicot, the public was evacuated during the broadcast of the images but not the journalists. Since the opening of this extraordinary trial, she has chosen a public trial so that “shame changes sides” and thus raises awareness of sexual violence. “Mr. Arata acceded to a request from certain defense lawyers – who of course have every interest in journalists not being present to see their clients in their works – to kick us out in the name of ‘indecent and shocking “images”, deplores the judicial press association in a press release.
Obstruction of press freedom
Without these videos, it is impossible to tell the reality of the abuse she experienced for ten years. An element all the more important since Gisèle Pelicot, drugged without her knowledge, remembers nothing. The images provide a counterpoint to the defense of the accused. As for Jacques C. who does not recognize rape, but only sexual assault. Or those others who claim she was pretending to sleep. “The president of the criminal court hinders freedom of the press, which is essential to the impartial and credible reconstruction of this highly publicized trial,” believes the national union of journalists.
Faced with the outcry caused by this decision and to follow up on the conclusions filed by the civil party, Roger Arata announced a new debate. This will be public.