Pelicot mass rape case: French court to hear appeal of only one convicted man
A French appeals court will hear the appeal from only one of the 51 men convicted over the mass rape of Gisèle Pelicot orchestrated by her now ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, a judicial source said on Tuesday.
Dominique Pelicot was convicted in December 2024 of recruiting strangers over almost a decade to sexually abuse and rape the heavily drugged Gisèle Pelicot, in a case that made her a global feminist icon after she insisted that the trial be held in public.
Fifty other men, the strangers who he recruited online to carry out the abuse alongside him, were also convicted in a trial that saw no acquittals.
Dominique Pelicot did not appeal his term of 20 years jail for aggravated rape. But seventeen of the other defendants initially lodged an appeal.
Sixteen of them have withdrawn their appeals over the last months, said a source close to the case, asking not to be named. The final three such moves to withdraw appeals were made on Tuesday.
This means that the appeals trial that gets underway in the southern city of Nimes this autumn will only examine the case of Husamettin D., 44, sentenced to nine years in prison at the trial in December.
He will only contest the length of his sentence for rape and not his guilt, the source told AFP.
The appeals trial, initially scheduled for October 6 to November 21, should therefore be significantly shorter – if it even takes place.
Husamettin D. has the right to withdraw his appeal right up until the opening of the hearing.
Dominique Pelicot would likely be called as a witness at the appeals trial.
He also faces possible further trials in separate cases after being charged over an attempted rape in 1999 and the rape followed by murder in 1991 in Paris of Sophie Narme, a 23-year-old real estate agent.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
French dock workers block shipment of military material for Israel: union
The stevedores at the port in Fos-sur-Mer outside Marseille have refused to load crates of links used to assist the rapid fire of bullets aboard the cargo vessel, the CGT trade union said. Links are small metal pieces, used to connect machine gun bullets and allowing rapid bursts of fire. There has been concern in media and among rights groups that they have likely been used against civilians in the Gaza Strip. Christophe Claret, leader of the dock workers in the port, said they had been notified that the ship was due to be loaded on Thursday with the material. "We managed to identify it and set it aside," he told AFP, emphasising that once dockers refuse to load a shipment, no one else can do it for them. The other containers for the ship will all be loaded. According to the union, the cargo is 19 pallets of links manufactured by the Marseille-based company Eurolinks. The CGT said the move made clear its refusal to "participate in the ongoing genocide orchestrated by the Israeli government." Leading rights groups have accused Israel of committing genocide in its military campaign, a charge vehemently rejected by the government. 'Humanism is not for sale' Contacted by AFP, Eurolinks did not respond to a request for comment. The Port of Marseille-Fos had no comment. "We are very proud of this action led by our comrades and which is part of the CGT's long internationalist tradition for peace," CGT secretary general Sophie Binet told reporters in the eastern city of Strasbourg on Thursday. "It is unacceptable that CGT dockers should be the ones forced to uphold the fundamental principles of international law and French values. The government must immediately block all arms deliveries to the State of Israel," she said. The move was also welcomed by hard-left and left-wing leaders in France. "Humanism is not for sale," said Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure. According to the investigative website Disclose, which had access to maritime data, two other such shipments between Fos-sur-Mer and the Israeli port of Haifa took place on April 3 and May 22. French Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu had stated at the time that these parts exported by the Marseille company would be "re-exported" through Israel and not used by the Israeli army. The latest war started after Hamas fighters attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures. Of the 251 hostages seized during the attack, 55 remain in Gaza, including 32 the Israeli military says are dead. Israel's military offensive on Gaza since October 2023 has killed 54,677 people, mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the occupied Palestinian territory, while the United Nations said on May 30 the territory's entire population of more than two million people was at risk of famine.
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
TotalEnergies in landmark greenwashing trial in France
It is the first such case in France targeting a major energy company and could set a legal precedent for corporate environmental advertising, which is starting to face tighter regulations in the European Union. The civil case stems from a March 2022 lawsuit by three environmental groups accusing TotalEnergies of "misleading commercial practices" for saying it could reach carbon neutrality while continuing oil and gas production. The plaintiffs took that legal route as "greenwashing", or the act of claiming to be more environmentally responsible than in reality, is not specifically covered under French law. Starting in May 2021, TotalEnergies advertised its goal of "carbon neutrality by 2050" and touted gas as "the fossil fuel with the lowest greenhouse gas emissions". At the time, the company had changed its name from Total to TotalEnergies to emphasise its investments in wind turbines and solar panels for electricity production. The plaintiffs allege that TotalEnergies made around 40 "false advertisements" in their lawsuit. "For the average consumer, it is impossible to understand that TotalEnergies is actually expanding fossil fuel production," said Clementine Baldon, a lawyer for the NGOs. The company's strategy "will not help the energy transition", Baldon told the court. "It delays it, even prevents it, and it contributes to putting the objectives of the Paris accord at risk," she added, referring to the international agreement aimed at curbing climate change. TotalEnergies maintains it has not engaged in misleading commercial practices. Moreover, it insists that the messages are part of its institutional communications regulated by financial authorities and not consumer law. It has also argued the NGOs are misusing consumer protection rules to challenge its corporate strategy, and that no consumer organisation is party to the case. The NGOs said the Paris court will rule on the legality of ads presenting natural gas as essential to the energy transition. Climate experts say methane leaks from the gas industry have a powerful warming effect on the atmosphere. Correcting ads Environmental groups in recent years have turned to the courts to establish case law on companies misleading consumers by appearing more eco-friendly than they are. In Europe, courts ruled against Dutch airline KLM in 2024 and Germany's Lufthansa in March over misleading consumers about their efforts to reduce the environmental impact of flying. In Spain, utility Iberdrola failed to secure a conviction against Spanish oil and gas company Repsol over similar allegations of "false" environmental claims. A greenwashing case against Australian oil and gas producer Santos, challenging its claim to be a "clean fuels" company, has been ongoing since 2021. Other fossil fuel companies, under pressure from advertising regulators or legal complains, have had to scrap or correct ad campaigns. Shell, for example, received a warning in the UK and had to stop promoting "carbon-neutral" gasoline in several countries, including Germany, the Netherlands and Canada. New European laws now ban vague, generic environmental claims such as "green" or "100 percent natural" product, and aim to require brands to more strictly substantiate environmental claims on labels and in advertising. TotalEnergies has said it plans to show that its messages "about its name change, strategy and role in the energy transition are reliable and based on objective, verifiable data".
Euronews
an hour ago
- Euronews
Why is Paris seeking legal personhood status for the River Seine?
Paris's Seine could be the next river granted legal personhood under plans announced by Mayor Anne Hidalgo yesterday. Paris City Council has called on Parliament to pass a law giving the River Seine rights, so that "an independent guardian authority' can defend it in court, according to yesterday's resolution. It follows a swell of similar 'rights for nature' breakthroughs since New Zealand first recognised the Whanganui River as a living entity in 2017. And is another step forward in Paris's bid to protect the Seine from pollution. 'From the reclamation of the banks in 2016 to the historic swimming in the Seine during the Paris Games, to the improvement of water quality, we have never stopped acting to restore our river to its rightful place!' Hidalgo wrote in a LinkedIn post yesterday. The foundations of the plan were laid by a citizens'convention on the future of the Seine, which concluded last month. 50 citizens chosen at random questioned experts and took part in weeks of debate in order to reach a collective opinion. They concluded that the Seine should have fundamental rights, including 'the right to exist, to flow and to regenerate.' On the basis of this opinion, the City of Paris is tabling a bill in Parliament to give the Seine the rights to be properly protected. Une publication partagée par Anne Hidalgo (@annehidalgo) 'Recognising rights to the oceans, rivers or the Seine is neither a symbolic gesture nor a legal fantasy: it is a political response to the ecological emergency. It is urgent to act!' Hidalgo added. The Seine must be considered an ecosystem that "no one can claim ownership of", where the preservation of life takes "precedence over everything", according to the convention. Paris has been on a major cleanup mission on the Seine's behalf in recent years, spending €1.4 billion on its recovery. That includes investments like building a giant underground tub to store wastewater so that it doesn't run into the river. It received a boost in the run-up to the Olympics last year, as French authorities sought to get the river clean enough to host water sports events. After much speculation, failed E. coli tests, and one Mayoral swim, some Olympic events were able to go ahead. But a plan to open the Seine for public swimming last summer was delayed until this year. Now, authorities say it will be opened up at three points from 5 July. Despite ongoing issues from pollution, rising water temperatures, and pesticide runoff, the Seine has been getting markedly healthier. As the citizens' convention noted, the river is now home to around 40 species of fish - up from just four in 1970. Opening the river up to the public this summer could present "additional risks", it warned, and so will need to be carefully managed. Communities around the world have campaigned for fragile ecosystems like rivers and mountains to be afforded legal rights in order to better protect them. The legislation protecting the Whanganui River combines Western legal precedent with Indigenous beliefs, as Maori people have long considered it a living entity. In 2022, Spain granted personhood status to Europe's biggest saltwater lagoon, the Mar Menor, marking the first time a European ecosystem gained the right to the conservation of its species and habitats, and protection from harmful activities such as intensive agriculture. Last year, an Ecuadorian court ruled that pollution had violated the rights of the Machángara River, which runs through Quito. It enforced an article of Ecuador's Constitution that recognises the rights of nature. Hidalgo wants to see the Seine join this privileged company. 'Paris is committed to putting the Seine back in its rightful place, in the heart of our city and as close as possible to its inhabitants,' she wrote. 'A new adventure begins!'
