now the rape Survivor who has become a hero in France has given her final statement in court jizelle pelor says it is time for the Macho patriarchal society that trivializes rape to change her ex-husband and dozens of other men are on trial in France accused of violating her while she was drugged Giselle pilo is the woman at the center of a mass rape trial that has shaken France over 5 weeks ACC in aenor has heard harrowing details of how she was allegedly raped by her husband Dominic pelico and dozens of men he recruited online she
told the court she never suspected her husband of anything and that she thought she was having symptoms of Alzheimer's when she was experiencing blackouts and memory loss the court was told these were the side effects of the drugs her husband was putting in her food to sedate her jiselle pelico also told the court that she'd consulted three gynecologists after waking up on several occasions in her words feeling like she'd given birth after jizelle pelico spoke you heard who the main victim is and we know to what extent but more broadly the main victim is an
entire family Dominique pelico has admitted to the charges against him he's on trial alongside 50 of the men police Tracked Down from videos of the alleged rapes he filmed and stored 21 other men seen in the videos could not be identified while a handful of the men on trial have admitted to raping jizel pelico the majority have pleaded not guilty they argue that they were not aware that she was unconscious one of them said he thought she was pretending to be asleep as part of a fantasy game investigators have evidence of around 200 alleged rapes
carried out between 2011 and 2020 it's unusual here in France for a rape trial to be held in public but jizelle pelor chose to wave her anonymity she told the court she was driven by a desire to expose rape culture she said she'd hoped that her decision would Empower other survivors of sexual violence to speak out Jazelle pelico is a hero the 71 year-old's bravery has opened a conversation message for all women who are suffering violence many are silent it helps to put pressure on the justice system and hold perpetrators accountable the main accused in
the trial fa decades in prison judges will deliver their verdict in December and Christine Munda who filed that report is at the trial in avenon I asked her how this case came about well this all came to light in September 2020 when the husband of jiselle pilo Dominic was caught by a security guard in a supermarket filming under women's skirts he was arrested his phone was confiscated and as police looked through his phone his laptop and other gadgets they discovered thousands of videos of a woman who looked unconscious who appears to be unconscious um and
and a number of men having sex with her they also discovered chats these were the conversations that pelico had been having with the men that he had been recruiting online to come and have sex with his wife while she was unconscious the court was told that it is only when the police uh brought Mrs pelico in for questioning and showed her these videos that she became aware of what had been happening to her over a decade uh and uh it she was stunned we the court was told that at some point she didn't actually recognize
that she was the woman in in that video footage this is a huge story both in France around the world um we've been watching the trial um she has now given her final statement in court can you tell us what we heard from her and what we've also heard from her ex-husband Dominic that's right well Ana jizelle pelo has been defiant from the very beginning I mean the decision she took to go public uh to to put her face out there she said this has always been about taking the shame away from the victims and
and putting it on to the perpetrators today she looked those perpetrators in the eye she addressed them directly she said in her eyes these men were all rapists she said that this has been a trial of cowardice she said she's listened to men deny rape but she asked them directly at what point did she give them consent at what point when they walked into her bedroom found her body motionless continued to engage uh in sexual relations with her did they not think that this was right at what point did they report this to the police
she's been very very strong Dominic pelico is is speaking uh in in the coming hours um but he has already confessed uh to to his guilt he has told the court that he is a rapist he's admitted to the charges against him but for jaizelle pelo this has not just been about her justice but just for all victims of sexual violence her going public and and saying to other victims in fact she's quoted at saying I want women to to to look at my case and say if Madame pelo can do it so can I
a woman obviously of extraordinary strength as you said um there are many men on trial can you tell us uh more about the the other men who are on trial um accused of of rape Anya these men come from different different backgrounds you have a carpenter a nurse a soldier you've got Farm Workers truck drivers we know that these men all lived within a short driving distance from the pelic co home about a 60 km radius a lot of them have very difficult backgrounds uh substance abuse addictions to pornography they are having challenges in their
lives there documented uh in some cases some of them have also experienced at some point in their lives uh sexual assault and sexual viol so a very disturbing picture of some of these men but the majority of them have have rejected the allegation of rape they don't believe that they're guilty of rape they say they were unaware that Mrs pelico was unconscious um and they are instead putting the blame on on Dominque pelico some of them have even suggested that they are victims of Dominque pelico uh we know that 50 of them are on trial
one is is at large an international warrant of arrest is out for him he's believed to be out of the country but there is also 21 men who aren't in the dock today and that is because police were unable to identify those men Christin Munda reporting from Avenue in France Christine thanks so much for bringing us up today on the uh extraordinary story of that trial and of course the Incredible strength shown by jizelle pelor Christine thank you
