Mass rape trial lays bare France's disturbing culture of sexual assault, critics allege

WARNING: Content in the following story may be disturbing for some readers.

A mass-rape trial in France has exposed what many have called a "rape culture" that has run rampant in the country. 

"Today I maintain that, along with the other men here, I am a rapist,″ Dominique Pélicot, 71, said during a court appearance on Tuesday. "They knew everything. They can’t say otherwise."

Gisèle Pélicot, 72, alleged that her husband had drugged her and allowed dozens of men to sexually abuse her over nearly a decade between 2011 and 2020 while the couple lived in the small town of Mazan. Dominique Pélicot admitted to the crime in addition to filming the assaults. 

His decision to forego anonymity in the trial is unprecedented and has taken many by surprise, but he stands by his conviction that he must face his crimes. 

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"One is not born a pervert. One becomes a pervert," he told the court, claiming he had been raped by a male nurse in a hospital when he was nine years old and then forced to participate in a gang rape at 14.

"From my youth, I remember only shocks and traumas, forgotten partly thanks to her. She did not deserve this, I acknowledge it," he said of his wife. If convicted, Dominique Pélicot faces 20 years in prison.

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He now stands trial along with around 50 other men that authorities have identified and arrested through matching the media provided by Dominique Pélicot — many of whom have denied the allegations brought against them.

Dominique Pélicot’s testimony stirred media attention due to the shocking nature of his crime. He spoke for an hour while confined to a wheelchair following some health complications due to a kidney stone and urinary infection.

The court proceedings cannot be filmed or photographed, per French law, and Dominique Pélicot enters and leaves the court through a special entrance inaccessible to the media as he and some other defendants remain in custody during the trial. 

The other defendants instead claim they were manipulated by the husband or believed she had consented to the act. 

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Dominique Pélicot first crossed law enforcement after they caught him taking photos of women’s crotches at a supermarket. An investigation uncovered the trove of thousands of pictures and videos that depicted the assaults on his wife. 

The couple remained married for 50 years until the attacks came to light and police shared the media with Gisèle Pélicot, who called the revelation "unbearable." The couple had three children together. 

"For me, everything collapses," Gisèle Pélicot testified. "These are scenes of barbarity, of rape."

French authorities have determined that a total of roughly 72 men participated in the decadelong rape scheme. Their ages range from 26 to 68 and come from a variety of backgrounds, including firefighters, journalists and pharmacists, according to the BBC. 

The Fondation des Femmes told NBC News that the trial is a "symbol of the worst that male violence can do," describing the crimes against Gisèle Pélicot as "barbaric" and her decision to publicly testify as brave. 

"It is not for myself that I am testifying, but for all the women who suffer chemical submission," Gisèle Pélicot said during her testimony.

Céline Piques of the group Osez le Féminisme has argued that this case counters the narrative of "the rapist who is a psychopath" who "raped because they were sure of their impurity." 

Piques pointed to the website that Dominique Pélicot used to invite men to his home, which had over 500,000 visitors a month last year, noting that "100% of these people… never made a phone call to stop this abuse."

"Not one man thought about informing the police of these criminal facts," Piques said. 

Fox News Digital’s Jasmine Baehr and The Associated Press contributed to this report.