Pélicot case: the main accused still absent, the trial compromised ?

The trial of the Pélicot case is suspended this Friday. It will only be able to resume quickly if the state of health of the main accused allows it.

Since Monday, Dominique Pélicot has not shown up at the trial for the Mazan rapes. Among 51 men, he remains the main accused, having drugged his wife to deliver her to strangers who raped her. The latter is ill and deemed unable to participate in the hearing. The father of the family is reportedly suffering from renal colic. The smooth running of the trial of the trial is strongly impacted. 

On Tuesday, Dominique Pélicot was due to appear but was excused. The next day, he briefly appeared in the dock, but was holding his head in his hands. The presiding judge then decided not to continue. A medical expert then concluded “the implementation of appropriate treatment, with possible hospitalization, and a possible discharge date on Monday”, announced the presiding judge, Roger Arata, at the opening of the hearing on Thursday. The trial was then adjourned until next week.

His ex-wife, Gisèle Pélicot, the main victim, and his children refused to appear on Thursday following the absence of the accused, while they were supposed to be heard. If Dominique Pélicot returns quickly, they will all be heard as a priority, before returning to the co-accused, the first of whom were questioned on Wednesday. However, even for them, it is delicate to have them appear before the bar in the absence of the main accused, who orchestrated everything. It is impossible, for example, to question Jean-Pierre M, who allegedly raped his wife with Dominique Pélicot, because the two men accuse each other of being the initiators of the acts.

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The trial postponed ?

Dominique's lawyer assured hope for the resumption of the trial at the beginning of next week with BFMTV: “We all hope that my client will be present on Monday or Tuesday. There can be no trial without Dominique Pelicot being present”. Questioned on the fact that his client could thus seek to avoid the trial, the lawyer formally refutes this hypothesis: “He was waiting for his trial, he wanted to talk and to be confronted with his “wife and children”. “We simply have to give him time this one to recover,” she assured.

Will Dominique Pélicot really be able to appear on Monday ? Nothing is less certain. A postponement of the trial will be considered if the accused becomes “permanently unavailable,” reports Le Monde. “Either Pelicot is here [Monday],” and we continue. If he is not here for one, two or three days, we will extend the suspension. But if he is permanently unavailable, the case will be postponed,” declared the president of the court.

This would waste an enormous amount of time, while the trial must already last until December 13. In the event of a postponement, in fact, it will be necessary to “re-establish everything: a schedule, the availability of the courtroom… And what about those who are in detention”? Because “at that time, I can assume that there will be requests for release”, specified Dominique Pélicot's lawyer.