Gisèle Pelicot held trial in public to force debate on rape culture, say lawyers

At summing up, lawyers say Gisele Pelicot wanted to show how people still defend rape in France in 2024

Gisele Pelicot's decision to waive her anonymity and hold a public trial after her husband drugged her and invited dozens of men to rape her over a decade was made in the hope of ending rape culture and rape itself, her lawyers have argued.

Summing up in court in Avignon, southern France, after more than two months of hearings, Stephane Babonneau, one of Gisele Pelicot's lawyers, said: We don't believe rape is an inevitability. This is a country of progress ... Rape is not part of the future of society that we want."