Dominique Pelicot's rape trial causes shock in the village of Mazan

Photo: Christophe Simon Agence France-Presse Dominique Pelicot is accused of drugging his wife Gisèle Pelicot and recruiting dozens of strangers on the Internet to rape her from July 2011 to October 2020, at the couple's home in Mazan.

Camille Kauffmann – Agence France-Presse in Mazan

Published at 9:28 am

• Europe

“It's a quiet little village, quite nice. I never thought it could happen here. In fact, we're shocked when we see the word Mazan on television,” laments Lina Blazy, a retiree living in this medieval town in the south of France.

Until now known mainly for its proximity to Mont Ventoux, this town in Vaucluse with 6,000 inhabitants has been associated since the beginning of September with an extraordinary trial, followed on television channels around the world.

That of Dominique Pelicot, accused of drugging his wife and recruiting dozens of strangers on the Internet to rape her from July 2011 to October 2020, at the couple's home in Mazan. And even if only two of the 50 co-accused lived in Mazan, the embarrassment is present.

“Some say we are a village of rapists, but that is not the case! “, exclaims Annie Viau, who runs a bakery near the town hall.

“For me, the rapist is not from Mazan, he is Parisian (the couple arrived in Mazan from the Paris region in March 2013, Editor's note), but it happened here unfortunately,” she adds.

Few customers talk to her about this case: “People have a certain modesty,” she explains, not being able to bear the reputation of her village being tarnished.

Tired of being bombarded by the media, consumers sitting on the terrace of a café prefer not to speak out about this affair any more.

A disturbing coincidence, Mazan is still home to what was the family home of the Marquis de Sade, the 18th-century French writer who coined the concept of sadism with his sulphurous writings describing scenes of torture, rape, incest and murder.

This term was taken up by Dr. Paul Bensussan during his psychiatric analysis of Dominique Pelicot at the trial on September 9, when he mentioned his “sexual sadism with the desire to humiliate his wife.”

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• The trial of the “Mazan rapes” suspended until Monday, possible postponement
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“Anxiety-provoking” atmosphere

“It's certain that (this affair) doesn't make good publicity for the village and the region,” says Frédéric Raymond, leaning on the bar counter of a café, recalling that around twenty men recruited by Dominique Pelicot have never been identified.

“Sometimes, we come across people in Mazan and we say to ourselves “maybe…”. It could be anyone… The sick, it's not written on their foreheads,” declares, with a serious air, this young retiree living in a neighboring village, emphasizing the climate of suspicion that has set in since the beginning of the trial.

Although 72 men had been identified by investigators, based on photos and videos of the events taken by Dominique Pelicot himself, only 50 were actually identified and arrested. They have been on trial since September 2 before the criminal court of Avignon.

This is what creates a somewhat “anxiety-provoking” atmosphere, confirms the mayor of the village, Louis Bonnet (various right). The unidentified attackers “may be from the village… Or not,” he notes. Hence his questions about the hypothesis of “meeting them at the bowling alley, in the shops”.

However, for the elected official, the question of a possible psychological unit in the village or in the schools does not arise: “No one has yet come to tell me “I am marked, the town hall must help me psychologically”. But if it has to be done, we will do it”.

Others are thinking about it, however, like Cécile Paulin, “shocked and upset” by the Pelicot affair. This massage therapist founded a women’s shelter in Mazan and she would like to open “a space where people can speak out.”

Not only for Dominique Pelicot’s direct victims, but also “for all those who need it,” as well as “collateral victims, such as the partners of the other accused,” she adds.

“We need to talk about it so that it doesn’t happen again,” she insists, “we can’t act as if nothing happened.”