Video Evidence of Gisèle Pelicot Attacks Is As Horrifying As You'd Imagine

Gisèle Pelicot, the woman whose husband repeatedly raped her between 2011 and 2020 and invited 80 men into their home to do the same, is being lauded as a hero after video evidence of the attacks she endured began being shown in court last week. Pelicot herself pushed for the videos to be played during the proceedings as she and her legal team believed it was essential for the courtroom “to look rape straight in the eyes.”

So far, "a dozen videos and about 10 photos" have been shown in court, according to Catherine Porter, a reporter for the New York Times, who's been present at the trial. Of the footage, Porter wrote that Pelicot, who was unresponsive—even as various men "engaged with her body in sex acts"—was seen lying "limp" on a bed, snoring, and, apparently, "dead asleep."

"The videos played on uncomfortably long," she wrote, noting that multiple lawyers and journalists looked away from the videos. In many, Pelicot is nude, and in others, she's wearing only a pair of underwear, white socks, and a garter belt. Even more sickening is the fact that Dominique told authorities that it was not uncommon for him to "dress her up" while she was unconscious only to redress her in the clothes she went to bed in after the rapes.

Porter's description of the footage contradicts the defense strategy of a number of the 49 men (alongside Pelicot's ex-husband, Dominique) who took the stand claiming that they, too, are victims in this exceedingly horrifying case. The defendants have been charged with a number of crimes including rape, gang rape, and privacy breaches by recording and disseminating sexual images, and face up to 20 years in prison.

Despite meeting Pelicot through a now-defunct message board called “Without their knowledge,” many of the men maintain they had no idea Pelicot was drugging his wife with several medications, including Temesta, an anti-anxiety drug that works like a sedative. Furthermore, the men claimed Pelicot had manipulated them into raping his wife—telling the court they were told the clearly unconscious woman was merely pretending to sleep.

“For Gisèle Pelicot, these videos explode the theory that the rape was accidental, due to inattention or carelessness," Antoine Camus, one of her attorneys, told the court last week. "What they show is a rape of opportunity.”