Lawyers make final pleas in France’s ‘monster’ husband’s rape trial

PARIS – A lawyer asked judges to acquit his clients on Friday as defense arguments wrapped up in a massive rape trial in France, arguing the victim’s main “monster” husband manipulated them into assaulting her.

READING: Two defendants in French mass rape trial seek clemency

In a trial that shocked the country and whose verdict is expected next week, Dominique Pelicot, 72, admitted drugging his then-wife Gisele Pelicot for nearly a decade so that he and the strangers she recruited online could violate her.

Gisele Pelicot, 72, has become a feminist hero at home and abroad, even making the BBC’s 100 Women list, for refusing to be shamed and facing her abusers in court.

Along with her ex-husband, 50 other men between the ages of 27 and 74 are on trial, including one who did not abuse her but raped his own wife with the help of Dominique Pelicot.

Among the remaining 49, Omar D., 36, a cleaner, and 74-year-old pensioner Jean-Marc L., the oldest co-defendant, were accused of raping Gisele Pelicot.

The prosecution asked for 12 years and 10 years in prison for them.

Their lawyer, Nadia El Bouroumi, said Friday that she does not question Gisele Pelicot’s lack of consent.

But she said her clients had been manipulated by a “monster” and called for them to be acquitted.

“I stand up for men who are what is normal in society,” she said.

“The exception is Mr. Pelicot, someone who is dangerous. We have a monster in the bank.”

Other defense attorneys described him as an “ogre” or a “wolf.”

– “Hard for us” –

He “used these men as objects,” she said, calling them “victims.”

“How were they to know that Mrs. Pelicot had been drugged?

“A serial rapist has … a modus operandi where he manipulates,” she said, referring to two cold cases in which Dominique Pelicot was charged.