「打ちひしがれた」夫に薬盛られ72人から性的暴行 元妻、社会変える決意も
南仏アビニョンの裁判所で、ドミニク被告と共同被告50人の裁判が始まって以降、ジゼルさんはフランスでフェミニストのアイコンとなっている。
この事件はフランス社会における男性による暴力に対する恐怖、抗議、議論を呼び、法廷での痛ましい証言は国民の関心を集めている。
ジゼルさんは23日、2回目となる法廷での証言で、「私は完全に打ちひしがれた女性だ」と打ち明ける一方、性的暴行に対する社会の対応を変えたいと「決意」を表明した。
ジゼルさんは薬物を利用した性的虐待への関心を高めるため、当初から公開裁判を求めていた。
また、性犯罪の被害に遭った他の女性たちにも名乗り出るよう呼び掛けている。「性的暴行被害に遭ったすべての女性が『ミセス・ペリコにもできたのだから私たちもできる』と自分に言い聞かせてほしい」とし、「恥ずべきは私たち被害者ではない。加害者の方だ」と訴えた。
ロジェ・アラタ裁判長はジゼルさんに対し、これまでの裁判についてどう感じているかを尋ねた。
この問いに対しジゼルさんは「どう立ち直ればいいのか分からない」「もうすぐ72歳になるが、ここから立ち直れるだけの人生が残されているか分からない」と応じた。
■「計り知れない裏切り」
ジゼルさんはその後、目を背けて被告席に座っている元夫ドミニク被告に対し、約10年にわたって自分に薬を盛り、性的に暴行したり、他人を募って暴行させたりした理由を尋ねた。
「私にとって最高の男性だった夫がどうしてこんなふうになってしまったのか。私の人生がなぜ変わってしまったのか。私が性的パートナーを交換するようなライフスタイルを嫌っているのを知りながら、どうしてこんな人たちをわが家に入れることができたのか。私には分からない」と述べ、「私にとって、これは計り知れない裏切りだ。50年連れ添い、私は最後までこの男と添い遂げるつもりだったのに」と嘆いた。
ジゼルさんは目をそらしたドミニク被告をじっと見つめながら、「私は常にあなたを向上させようとしてきたが、あなたは人間としてどん底に落ちた。残念だが、自ら選んだ結果だ」
ジゼルさんの言葉にドミニク被告は、目を伏せる以外の何の反応も示さず、ただ座ったままだった。【翻訳編集AFPBBNews】
〔AFP=時事〕(2024/10/24-17:02)
French mass rape victim tells court she is 'broken' but determined
Gisele Pelicot, whose ex-husband and dozens of other men are on trial in France accused of raping her while she was drugged, told the court Wednesday she was broken by her ordeal, but also determined to change society for sex assault victims.
The 71-year-old has become a feminist icon in France since the trial of Dominique Pelicot and 50 other men opened last month in the southern French city of Avignon.
The case has sparked horror, protests and a debate about male violence in French society, with the country keenly following the harrowing testimonies in court.
I am a woman who is completely broken, Gisele Pelicot told the court in her second address to the court on Wednesday.
But she expressed her determination to change this society in terms of how it deals with sexual assault.
Gisele Pelicot insisted from the start that the trial should be open to the public to draw attention to the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse.
And she has encouraged other women who have been sexually assaulted to come forward.
I wanted all women who are rape victims to say to themselves: 'Mrs Pelicot did it, so we can do it too', she said.
It's not us who should feel shame, but them (the perpetrators), she said.
Gisele Pelicot addressed the court on Wednesday at the invitation of presiding judge Roger Arata, who asked for her impressions of the trial so far.
I don't know how I'm going to rebuild myself, she said. I'm 72 soon and I'm not sure my life will be long enough to recover from this.
- 'Immeasurable betrayal' -
She then addressed her former husband who was sitting in the dock without looking at her, asking him to explain what made him drug her over almost a decade, rape her and enlist strangers to do the same.
I'm trying to understand how my husband, who was the perfect man, became like this. How my life changed. How you could allow these people into our house knowing that I disliked swinging.
For me, this betrayal is immeasurable. After 50 years together... I used to think I was going to be with this man until the end.
She added, looking steadily at her husband, who looked away: I always tried to lift you higher. You plumbed the depths of the human soul, but unfortunately you made your own choices.
Her ex-husband, also 71, remained seated without any apparent reaction bar lowering his eyes.
His six other co-defendants whose cases are being studied by the court this week likewise stayed silent, surrounded by their counsels.
Gisele Pelicot, who was greeted with applause by the audience as she arrived Wednesday, has attended the trial most days.
In mid-September, she dropped her usual reserve to talk of her humiliation and her anger towards several lawyers who had made insinuations about her ordeal.
A rape is a rape, she said.
- Abuse on film -
Dominique Pelicot filmed much of the abuse against his then-wife and also took meticulous records of the strangers visiting their home, which subsequently helped police uncover the crimes.
He has admitted to drugging her and inviting men to rape her between 2011 and 2020.
But he insists he is no different from the dozens of other men he recruited online to take part in the sexual abuse, alleging they all knew what they were signing up for.
Many of his co-defendants deny this, accusing him of manipulating them into raping his spouse of half a century.
Forty-nine other men are accused of raping or attempting to rape Gisele Pelicot -- with nearly none of them admitting guilt.
One has admitted to sedating his own spouse so that he and Dominique Pelicot could sexually assault her.
The trial is scheduled to last until December.
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