Mazan rapes: the sentences requested against the accused are “disproportionate”, according to their lawyers

The prosecution is requesting 10 years in prison for 11 of the accused, ;eacute;s.

As the indictments continue at the Mazan rape trial on Monday, November 25, the lawyers of the 50 accused (apart from Dominique Pélicot) deplore the “out of proportion and “staggering” sentences. According to them, the prosecution is requesting “in the name of public opinion” and not “in the name of society”.

The prosecution is seeking 20 years in prison (the maximum sentence) for Gisèle Pélicot's ex-husband, and 17 years for Jean-Pierre M., his “disciple” who repeated the same procedure on his wife. The indictment is expected to last three days and continued with the less serious cases. The sentences requested for 14 other defendants were detailed for three hours by Jean-François Mayet and Laure Chabaud, the two attorneys general. They are requesting 11 years in prison for two men, 10 years for 11 of them, and a sentence of 4 years.

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“I fear what will happen next (…) because requesting 10 years for people who, for the most part, have never been “convicted, are all perfectly integrated people, we judge by public opinion. And that, we cannot, we defend ourselves, accept,” said Me Louis-Alain Lemaire, lawyer for four of the 51 accused on trial.

“The sword of public opinion in the back”

“For most people, (…) “we are asking for 10 years of imprisonment, it is absolutely astounding”, added Me Lemaire, referring to this sentence requested against one of his clients, Jacques C., 73 years old, tried notably for having performed cunnilingus on Gisèle Pelicot, while she was asleep, drugged with anxiolytics by her husband.

"The prosecution had the sword of public opinion at its back", estimated Me Patrick Gontard, lawyer of Jean-Pierre M., and "when I see the sentences requested, I tell myself that we are really out of proportion", he deplored. "Trials out of the norm, requisitions out of proportion. “I hope the verdict is not out of the ordinary, because at that point I will seek justice,” he warned, suggesting he might appeal.