A French court has begun hearing the cases against six new defendants as the mass rape trial that has sparked horror in the country entered its fourth week.
Dominique Pelicot, who has admitted to the allegations, is accused of enlisting dozens of strangers to rape his drugged wife over nearly a decade.
The 71-year-old has been on trial since the start of the month along with 50 other men aged between 26 and 74, many of whom have denied the accusations, including one man who is alleged to have raped his own wife.
On Monday, Pelicot was in court in the south-eastern French city of Avignon but he was not due to speak until later this week.
His former wife, Gisèle Pelicot, 71, arrived in court to applause from the public, who again turned out in large numbers to watch the proceedings.
She listened impassively to details of the personality assessments of six of her alleged attackers.
Among them was Joan K, the youngest of the 50 co-defendants, who was 22 at the time of the alleged assaults. He is suspected of having visited the couple’s home in the town of Mazan to rape Gisèle Pelicot on two occasions.
Born in French Guiana, he joined his brother in Avignon when he was 16, before enlisting in the army.
Joan K was in a relationship with a woman he met on the internet, but their time together was marked by “numerous” conflicts and “extramarital relations”, the court heard. At the time of their separation, Joan K’s partner was pregnant.
In November 2019, on the date of one of the occasions he is accused of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot, he was absent for the birth of his daughter.
The testimony of Joan K, described by investigators as a man with depressive tendencies, was expected to be heard at the end of the week. The court will also be considering the charges against Andy R, 37, Hugues M, 39, Husamettin D, 43, Mathieu D, 62, and Fabien S, 39, each of whom visited the Pelicots’ home once.
Gisèle Pelicot has become a feminist icon and received praise for demanding that the trial be open to the public to raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse. Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets to support her.
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