Mazan rape trial: “You will have to prioritize these sentences. I dare ask you to reach out to him” pleads Me Attard

Me Céline Attard a plaidé au plus prêt de son dossier pour son client, Fabien S., à la vie saccagée. MIDI LIBRE – François Barrère

Before the criminal court of Vaucluse in Avignon, lawyers take turns at the bar to defend Dominique Pelicot's co-accused. Some stand out, come together or sometimes get lost. End of pleadings on December 13.

Blame the main criminal, denounce the failings of society, or focus on the personality of each of the accused? At the Mazan rape trial, before the Vaucluse criminal court, this Wednesday, December 4, the defense lawyers stand out, agree, or sometimes get lost.

“Liar, predator, snitch!”

“You are a liar, a predator, a snitch!”“, says Gaëlle Guenoun, who is defending Jérôme V., a 46-year-old ex-soldier, to Dominique Pelicot. Sixteen years of imprisonment have been requested against this man who went to the couple's house six times in 2020, and knew very well that Gisèle was sedated there. “Pelicot had the psychological upper hand, he placed him in a situation of subjugation, he objectified him (sic) in the same way as his wife and each of his accused who were nothing more than his sex toys for him. Does that make Jérôme V. a rapist? I don't think so” states the lawyer.

“They're given little stars ?”

The president of the bar, Emile-André Biscarrat, who is defending Ludovick B. (10 years required for rape) and Dominique D. (16 years for six facts), is protesting against “the escalation” weighing on the audience. “We want you to treat a news item as a social fact”. He protests against these feminist slogans adorning the walls of Avignon.

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“What's next?? We shave their heads, we put little stars on them, little distinctive signs? This is not acceptable! These fifty men are very alone in this room.” For him, one of the keys to his clients' action is psychological.

A curious parallel with the wolf and the deer in rut

“Sexual pressure temporarily abolishes barriers and restraint” one of the psychiatrists pointed out. The lawyer then launches into a curious parallel between the behaviour of the accused and the colonisation of Mont Ventoux by the wolf (“He arrived at the same time as Pelicot in Mazan, around 2011-2012”), the eradication of the mouflons that the predator will succeed in there, and the deer which “in the rutting season lowers its vigilance”. Gisèle Pelicot sighs, heavily, and shakes her head.

Me Céline Attard cannot get over the ruined life of Fabien S., 40 years old, convicted 17 times and who risks 16 years for a single rape in Mazan. Abused in his family, in his home, in his foster family, this loser ended up recognizing and asking for forgiveness. “He is at the same level as those who have been there six times. You will have to prioritize these sentences a little. I dare ask you to lend him a hand”.

“He has the IQ of an endive from Lidl”

And then there are flashes of insight, which shed light. Me Jalil-Henri Amr does not spare his client, Redouane A., 40 years old, psychotic, who risks twelve years for two rapes in Mazan. “He has the IQ of a Lidl endive. Of course he wanted to satisfy himself, otherwise he wouldn't be here.”

But the lawyer puts him back in this revenge that Dominique Pelicot would have satisfied, to make Gisèle pay for her past infidelity, sinking all the other accused in the process.

“You cheated on me once, you'll see what I'm going to make you pay for. It brings to mind the crime of passion, the one who stabs fifty people in a rage. It wasn't fifty stab wounds that this man stabbed his wife, but the fifty men who were there. If he kept this hard drive, it's because he wanted to get caught, he wanted her to see. There it is, he has it, his revenge. Apart from her, everyone else is just tools. All that matters in this trial is him and her. We don't exist. And in a senseless, perverse chivalry, he offers her the lives of these dozens of men, like one offers a bouquet of flowers to be forgiven.”

Continuation of the pleadings until December 13.

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