warning these computer-generated translations, French to English frequently get the pronouns wrong
Juliette Campion
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Nov 8 • 100 tweets • 13 min read • Read on X
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Friday, November 8, 42nd day of hearings in the #Mazan rape trial. This morning, we hear the investigating judge, Gwenola Journot, summoned at the request of an accused. LT to follow for @franceinfo
"In front of me, he did dirty things to his wife. I was watching, I was disturbed," he says.
An assessor asks her if her plan to become a pastor is still on the table. Paul G. says yes. "It's in progress. I asked my dad: my plan was to go to Guinea, to do a training with my father," he explains.
Antoine Camus, Gisèle Pelicot's lawyer, questioned her about his client's consent. Paul G. is a little annoyed. The lawyer stresses that he has the merit of not "inflicting his denial on Mrs. Pelicot", unlike other defendants: Paul G. admits to the facts of rape.
"But I want to understand why you recognize rape even though what you explain to us resembles what many others say," points out the lawyer for the civil party.
"He told me that the lady would be asleep, I came, I'm sorry for the lady, she doesn't deserve this," says Paul G.
"I've been here in France for fourteen years, I've never raped anyone, I've always paid my taxes, paid my bills," he said, looking back on the moment of his arrest.
"I was told at the police station: 'you are a rapist'. I became aware, I said: 'certainly, yes, I raped'. The sentence is up to the president to decide," he said.
He thinks he remembers that in confrontation, it was the public prosecutor who questioned him. The courtroom lets out a few laughs. "I think that, procedurally, it's not possible, I may have a look-alike," said the amused magistrate.
The latter asked him if he would agree to be psychologically monitored, as part of his care order. Paul G. had previously stated that he did not believe in psychology, but rather in faith (he is a Christian).
"Let us be followed, we are ready to do it. We are not monsters. Before we met Mr. Pelicot, we had a life. Today, our names are sullied everywhere, saying that we are rapists. I was mocked, insulted," the defendant said on the stand.
"But I took it upon myself, because I have a child: I am his dad, his mother abandoned him. It's not so that you feel sorry for us, we're not monsters, we're men like everyone else," he continued.
He apologizes to Gisèle Pelicot. "I am sincerely sorry for what you may have suffered all these years. We ask for forgiveness," he said. For the first time in a long time, she does not look away. The civil party seems touched by his testimony.
The public prosecutor returns to psychological follow-up. "Yes, I need. I will do it because I need it. I'm a modest person, I don't like to reveal myself, even at the penitentiary center in front of the psychologist or psychiatrist, I had trouble expressing myself," he explains.
"I was asked: 'Why did you do this?' Even we wonder why. If a professional can help us find the answer to our questions, it would be my pleasure," says Paul G.
Dominique Pelicot is questioned about the words of this accused. "From the start, I told her that she was asleep without her knowledge," he said. "He lowers his head because he knows very well that it was unbeknownst to him and reprehensible. For everything else, it's true," he says.
His lawyer asked Dominique Pelicot for some clarification and then turned to his client: "I had a few questions, but your testimony was so sincere that I don't see how my questions would tend to reveal the truth," he said.
The hearing is suspended: it will resume at 2 p.m. with the last interrogation of the week: that of Cédric G.
The hearing has resumed. Cédric G., 50 years old, is questioned about the facts. Three of his ex-girlfriends testified about him on Monday, as I summarized here: francetvinfo.fr/faits-divers/a...
The man, who appears in custody, is also being prosecuted for possession of child pornography images. In front of the investigators, he spoke of simple "curiosity", explaining that he "broke down sexual barriers", after the rapes of which he was a victim as a teenager by his uncle.
The facts concerning him, in Mazan, date back to the night of October 3 to 4, 2017. Previously, Dominique Pelicot filmed his partner live for this accused. "He shows her to me in ordinary moments of life, getting dressed or in his kitchen," says Cédric G.
"Am I excited? It may seem shocking, but I'm curious. Something tickles me. I can't say that I'm in a frenzy," he says. Important point: Cédric G. admits to the facts of rape, and is therefore one of the few defendants to use the term.
"I wouldn't have met Mr. Pelicot, it's something that would never have occurred to me. I'm talking about chemical submission. There is a curiosity, which is unhealthy," he continues.
"Does it increase your desire? Does it create a particular excitement?" the president asked him, noting that we are "already in a perverse scenario".
"I hear what you're saying. It won't provoke a path towards what is rape, you have to say the word, call a spade a spade. We are more sure of voyeurism. I don't associate it, at that moment, with what will happen afterwards," analyzes Cédric G. in retrospect.
The president returns to other facts, concerning an ex-partner, whom I call Marion in my report above. He admitted to having followed her home, with the aim of drugging her, like Dominique Pelicot, to rape her.
"There is this curiosity that arrives. I have this contact with Mr. Pelicot. There's no excitement, it's not dazzling. But there is curiosity. I ask Mr. Pelicot about the process, its implementation," he says.
"Knowing that I have already stepped over a lot of deviance at that time in my life. He gives me information," says the fifty-year-old.
"You are one of the few to have forged this kind of relationship with Mr. Pelicot, in confidence, on the methodology used," says the president.
The magistrate asked him why he wanted to chemically subjugate his partner.
"What's terrible is that with (Marion) I had libertine experiences, a largely sufficient sexuality, that's the whole paradox. As soon as I'm alone, it's like milk on the fire: there are these impulses that come back," he says.
"Like something I need to atone, something that makes me feel alive. It's terrible, but that's how it's expressed," the man continues. He added: "a pervert recognizes a pervert."
"We can easily identify ourselves. I don't feel like I'm being manipulated by Mr. Pelicot, it's more insidious than that," adds the defendant from his box.
"As surprising as it is for someone who is always looking for danger, when you arrive in front of (Marion's) house, something says to me in my head: 'stop Cédric, stop everything, stop'," he says.
"The possession of sedatives gives me a feeling of power, of power, something exhilarating, which flatters your ego. You are in possession of something forbidden, in total transgression," says Cédric G.
He admits that he did not use condoms during the events in Mazan, as in all the sexual relations he has had, including "homosexual relations", "It's Russian roulette and inevitably, the endangerment of others", he admits.
"'Russian roulette': this term is very evocative," says the president. "It's a risk based on luck. Can this risk also be a source of pleasure for you?" the magistrate asked him.
"Not as far as I'm concerned, but you'll have to ask Mr. Pelicot," the man replies.
On site, at the couple's home, "nothing will go as planned," says Cédric G. "There is no excitement. There will be a but it is not... As hoped, as expected, in a way. You should know that I don't have an erection," he says.
He adds that Dominique Pelicot "will be annoyed, because his whole process, his whole implementation, falls through: it's frustrating for him."
The president reads the investigators' report concerning the videos of the accused. At the end of this reading, the magistrate summed up: "there is digital and oral penetration of your genitals, but no penetration of your genitals into that of Mrs. Pelicot," he said.
We now move on to the question of his possession of child pornography files. "Can you tell us how you got this file back?" the president asked him.
"I receive them via Coco and via Skype," he says, adding: "the hidden side of the iceberg hides a bastard's face."
The president asked him if the men who sent him this content were simply "holders or users"? "Do they practice pedophilia themselves?" he asks.
The magistrate continues: "Behind the possession of an image, there is necessarily a child who suffers, who is abused. This supposes that there is the initial act that has been committed, then the possession of these images that pass from hand to hand."
"Have you been in contact with people who practiced forbidden acts with children?" he asked.
"If you hear physically, no, Mr. President," retorts Cédric G.
"There were still quite a few of them," says the president. "I don't dispute, the facts are stubborn. Is it possible to go back to the year of departure?" asks the accused politely.
"You are accused of having held files from 2016," says the president.
He seems surprised by this date. "I'm not going to go against it. I wonder, but I'm not going to go against the facts," he said.
An assessor questions him about the plan to rape his partner Marion, in the company of Dominique Pelicot. She asks him how the idea emerges.
"I am in the discussion with Mr. Pelicot on this. He explains to me how he proceeds. There is attraction, interest. In my memory, he is the one who proposes to me," he says.
"For me, the goal is to show her where she lives. I go up to the apartment with him. But she was not at the apartment at the time. I know she's at work," says the man.
He claims that it was on that day that he retrieved the medication from Dominique Pelicot, which was to be used to put his partner to sleep against her will. He says he kept them for a while.
"Mr. Pelicot will come and pick them up at my workplace, in a brewery, in Isle-sur-la-Sorgue," says the man.
The assessor questioned him about the fact that this former partner had been discovered unconscious in the street one day in April 2018.
"At the time, I'm worried. If the question: 'didn't I cause this myself', it's legitimate. Except that I don't," he says.
"You say that what was exciting about the possession of the vial was the feeling of omnipotence. But when you come to Mazan, on that day, it's impotence, there is a lack of erection. What is it related to?" asks an assessor.
"Actually I don't like it. I have an example, but it's not meant to be shocking... It's like seeing a movie trailer. You'll find it fantastic and in the end, the film isn't great. That's how I felt at that time," he said.
"Isn't it really Mr. Pelicot who has omnipotence? It's his wife, he delivers her as a thing," the assessor points out. "No, no, there is no frustration about it," says Cédric G.
The public prosecutor returns to child pornography images. "How do you get here?" he asks her.
"I think that in terms of deviance, I have broken a lot of records. Was it inevitable that I would watch child pornography? I have stepped over everything that is sordid and immoral. Should I be surprised? Unfortunately not," he replies.
"In the proceedings, you had indicated that it was as a sexual curiosity. Here, we are only on a few files. One can wonder what it gave you," says the attorney general.
"It was curiosity at first. It turned into excitement, I can't deny it," says Cédric G.
The attorney general observes that Cédric G. had made several child pornography montages with minors. "Little 15-year-old slut in Avignon available at the high school," he wrote, for example, giving the name of the teenager's school.
It is the daughter of one of his ex-girlfriends.
"I am asked for photomontages," says the man. "Who then?" asks the attorney general. "People on Skype," retorts the accused. "Ah, so there is a network," the magistrate points out.
"On the montages, yes. There are photos, videos, and I make montages. Can we talk about a network? I have never asked myself this question. It's terrible," comments the fifty-year-old.
Dominique Pelicot believes that what Cédric G. said is right on the whole. "I would like to add something: this famous attack that (Marion) would have had: he had told me about it and was worried about it," says the septuagenarian.
"From that moment on, I wanted to get the pills back. In my mind, I was afraid that this was one of the consequences. That's why I didn't let go of the guy, until I got them back," says Dominique Pelicot.
Guillaume De Palma, defence lawyer, asked him what was in the famous vial, with which he was supposed to put his partner to sleep.
"It was a small plastic container, in which there was a mixture of sedatives, but I didn't use it, didn't test it on me...", replies Cédric G., stuttering.
"We see a kind of white powder, something crushed," he says.
"Do you confirm that Dominique Pelicot wanted to enter Marion's apartment?" the lawyer continues. "Yes," replies Cédric G.
Béatrice Zavarro, Dominique Pelicot's lawyer, questions her client on this subject. "He asked me if I wanted to go home. There was a possibility of meeting Marion. That was my request. I never took photos," said the 71-year-old defendant.
He continues: "I arrived with him at the home. He went in, opened the door, and closed it all at once. Nothing more."
Béatrice Zavarro quotes a message that Cédric G. would have sent to Dominique Pelicot: his ex-girlfriend said on Monday that she had come across it. The accused said: "I dream that she will be raped when she gets home".
Cédric G.'s lawyer is annoyed when Béatrice Zavarro quotes this message, proving, according to her, that the idea of Marion's rape would indeed come from Cédric G. and not from his client.
"This statement is only yours," says Cédric G. "You are right, but it seems to me that the testimony was quite clear in this regard," retorts Béatrice Zavarro.
Charlotte Bres, Cédric G.'s lawyer, believes that her colleague was "disloyal" because she clearly did not quote one of her client's sentences correctly. Guillaume De Palma returns to the stand to correct. Charlotte Bres thanks him.
She questioned him on several points, recalling that he had immediately admitted the facts, as soon as he was placed in police custody.
The man turns to Gisèle Pelicot. "Mrs. Pelicot, I cannot apologize. We can forgive a jostle, a bad gesture. But we don't excuse rape, it's not possible. You can't forgive a rape," he said. She looks at him carefully.
"If I apologized, it would be not having been aware of what you have experienced. It would be a failure for me. Mrs. Pelicot, I'm your rapist, that's it. I need it to be said. I was your executioner," he continues.
"We can forgive many things. Rape is impossible. The court will do you justice, it is its duty, its job. Shame will have to change sides. And the shame you bear, I can take it," adds the 50-year-old.
"I spoke of a tipping point. Today, for me, it's the tipping point. I think I have heard it said: 'one is not born perverse, one becomes one'. You are not born that way, I don't think you choose to become one," he says.
"You have the honesty to say that you recognize yourself a little in the portrait of Mr. Pelicot," says his lawyer.
She asked him if other defendants, who did not have his paraphilias, could have been manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. "That's what I think. But that's just me," he replies.
Charlotte Brès turns to Dominique Pelicot. "You had sex with men. Two homosexual co-defendants even came for you, and not for your wife," she said.
"I don't understand in this case, why not admit, that at the very least, you like homosexual or bisexual relationships," she continues.
"It doesn't appeal to me at all. It's only in certain contexts that I've been confronted with that. So as not to die an idiot," replies Dominique Pelicot.
"Mr. G. says he had a relationship with you that of master and disciple," she continues. "I think I still have a long way to go before I catch him: he has much more perversity than me," replies the septuagenarian dryly.
"Except that Mr. G. did not have his wife raped for several years," says Charlotte Bres.
The interrogation of Cédric G. ends with this. The president gave an update on the schedule, recalling that all the defendants will have to be present again from November 18.
From then on, the pleadings of the civil party, the closing arguments, then the pleadings of the defense, and finally the deliberations will follow.
The attorney general specifies that the public prosecutor will make its submissions "with two voices on this case in which we will position ourselves on 51 cases". The discussions focus on the schedule, and the time given to everyone.
The public prosecutor does not want the requisitions to be split with the weekend in the middle. He would like them to take place on 25 and 26 November.
But this would "lose two days of hearings", the president lamented: the 21st and 22nd, because the pleadings of the civil party could take place on the 20th.
In short: the broad outlines are taking shape, but nothing is decided yet. The defense lawyers will meet to see how they organize themselves.
The hearing will resume on Tuesday, Monday being a holiday, with the last group of defendants. I take the liberty of sharing my report of the deposition of the investigating judge, written this lunchtime: francetvinfo.fr/faits-divers/a...
Thank you all for your follow-up and your encouragement in this final stretch of the trial. I am suspending this LT here for @franceinfo
Marion Dubreuil
3pm • 47 tweets
Day 42 of hearings (Week 9) at the trial of the #viols from #Mazan to #Avignon in which 51 men are appearing.
This morning, the criminal court is hearing the investigating judge who has been conducting the investigations for more than 3 years
@RMCInfo
The investigating judge, wearing a black dress and white vest, took the stand and took the oath before testifying: "The principle is as follows," the president recalled. The witness testifies freely about the personality of the accused and the facts of which he is accused. Beyond that, we will ask questions."
"You are the investigating magistrate, I recognize that this is quite unusual," continues the president. You were summoned at the request of an accused"
"I was seized on November 4, 2020 against Dominique Pelicot and against X, I carried out the necessary investigations, we identified 50 co-perpetrators on June 18, 2023, I issued my order"
"On a case of such magnitude, at what point do we decide to stop, not to open more doors? I'm thinking of motorway service areas, photos of unidentified naked women? I'm thinking of Caroline Darian? asks Mr. Camus
"On a case of such magnitude we could investigate for 10 years, we wanted to be pragmatic with the investigators so that Dominique Pelicot would be tried within a reasonable time. For the other victims, we identified 4 or 5 men who reproduced the modus operandi"
"On Caroline Darian, we tried to dig deeper, we know that she was the subject of immodest images, especially in her bedroom at her parents' house, in the two photos where she is asleep, no explanation from Mr. Pelicot," replied the investigating judge
"For me, the videos are the central element, I watched them all during interrogation, confrontation, we watched them again. You have to know what we're talking about, it's not the same thing, exploitation on Pv and distribution," explains the magistrate
"Were you surprised that a certain number of indictees could have been brought to discuss in detention?" "It was inevitable that there were not enough prisons in France to separate all the detainees and it would have been untenable, there would have been a lot of videoconferencing"
"What was your methodology for individualizing? Babonneau asks. How did you approach the question that Gisèle Pélicot could have been aware of the actions of which she had been a victim? »
"Initially, Dominique Pelicot spoke of about thirty men, about fifteen of whom had only come to watch. The investigators quickly realized that there were more like sixty of them. Quickly, we carried out by individual with sub-files," explains the investigating judge
"We reasoned by individual both at the time of the police investigation and the investigation. We quickly understood that we could not carry out all the arrests at the same time, we knew that we would inevitably lose evidence," explains the judge.
"The police station could absorb 10 police custody and I 10 presentations, we chose to proceed in waves of arrests," continues the magistrate.
"We decided to stop the investigations, we thought we had done the maximum, some people can barely see them very blurry, we can barely take out a photo. The board of those who were identifiable was distributed in all police stations and gendarmeries."
"The distribution of this photo sheet allowed the identification of a man by a gendarme. Yes, there is frustration, but we think we have done the maximum," says the magistrate
"You had retained the aggravating circumstance consisting in the defendants having been put in touch with Mrs. Pelicot by the Coco website, it was not retained by the investigating chamber. For us, the scope of this case has been made possible by this website. »
"Rape, in any case the quantum of the sentence, can only be aggravated by an aggravating circumstance," the magistrate said.
"At the beginning, we didn't know if there were links between these individuals and in reality, we very quickly realized that coco was the central link, that there was no link in real life between the defendants," the judge continued
"Coco is central. It was used in all the connections, even Simone M., her neighbor, went to their house by coco, they realized afterwards that they were neighbors. " explains the magistrate
At the same time, the magistrate had 90 cases to investigate, "the so-called Pelicot case was a priority" she was able to benefit from a co-referral for the presentations when there were 10 to be carried out on the same day.
"Often, what increases the workload of the firms is cases where there are many victims, but I don't know of other cases with this physiognomy," says the investigating judge
"The videos I have shown in the office have always been the original videos of Dominique Pelicot's hard drive. I have never used the expertise in sound enhancement in confrontation or interrogation, I found that there was little improvement in the sound."
"There were so many parasitic sounds that isolating the whispers did not bring anything more," said the magistrate on the questions of the attorney general, who wanted to clear up an argument of the defense that denounced the sound enhancement of videos that would modify reality
"I had asked that the technicians raise the voices but lower the TV and the snoring, I wanted isolated voices if the argument is to say that the snoring was raised, quite the contrary," says the investigating judge
"At the end of the investigation, I reported to the competent prosecutor's office 4 or 5 profiles on Skype that had the same behavior towards their partner, one of them was successful for me," explains the investigating judge.
"I don't know if you are still in the thesis of complicity of madame," the investigating judge was annoyed by the questions of the defense lawyer who had him summoned and who reproached him for the absence of certain operations, in particular the Pelicots' telephone lines
Mr. Crepin-Dehaene continues her questions on the parts of the investigation that she considers unexplored, "why did you not consider the hypothesis that some of these defendants were drugged?" "None of them appear as drugs on the videos," retorts the judge
Me El Bouroumi questions the investigating judge about the modalities of Dominique Pelicot's arrest in this case on summons with his victim wife "I can't answer you it was the Carpentras prosecutor's office that was in charge of the investigation, I was not seized"
Jean T.'s lawyer asked why the hypothesis that her client had been drugged had not been investigated (he was the first to have claimed it during interrogation) "from memory, this line of defense then spread to the accused," said the investigating judge
"One defendant even told us that he had been advised to say so," says the magistrate
Lawyer Paul-Roger Gontard asked why the investigation did not retain the acts of torture and barbarism against Dominique Pélicot, "it seems to be accepted in the debate that we are beyond a rape case"
End of hearing for the judge who investigated the case of the #viols of #Mazan ✍️🎨 my sketches of her deposition of November 8, 2024: "We could have investigated this case for 10 years. We were pragmatic in judging Dominique Pelicot within a reasonable time"
@RMCInfo
@RMCInfo The hearing resumes with the interrogation of Paul G. on the facts
My sketch ✍️ 🎨 of the day before yesterday during the personality interrogation
@RMCInfo Paul G. admits the facts, and says that he was asked by Dominique Pelicot about "I don't talk to men"
@RMCInfo "This question comes up again in the file, just yesterday with this sub-file that mentions 'Arab'," explains the president. Did Mr. Pelicot come to talk to you based on your skin colour? "Yes," says Paul G., who is black.
@RMCInfo Paul G. explains that he received photos of Gisèle Pelicot that he found "beautiful", the appointment was set for Sunday when Gisèle Pelicot returned from Paris, at the Carpentras train station. "I take the train, I get into his car, he tells me you're handsome. Very kind, very sweet"
@RMCInfo "When he arrived in front of the house, he told me to lower my head in the car"
"Before entering the room, did you mention the question of the condom or a recent test?"
"Yes, yes, I do the test every 3 months, you know, my mom is a midwife."
@RMCInfo "Did you know at this stage that Mrs. would be put to sleep by medication?" "Yes, he told me about coco," replies Paul G.
"You knowingly go to this date knowing that your partner will be asleep?"
"Yes"
@RMCInfo Paul G. recounts without filter all the acts he imposed on Gisèle Pelicot, those he filmed, "he did dirty things to his wife",
"I was disturbed, I wondered what I was doing", he accompanied me, he was happy and thought of bringing me back
@RMCInfo Paul G explains that years later he confided in a couple of friends who told him that what he had committed was rape and that it was serious. The assessor questions him about the content of a message that Dominique Pelicot sent him long after Paul G no longer knows
@RMCInfo Antoine Camus tries to understand why Paul G., unlike other defendants, admits to the rapes on the basis of the same facts: "When I showed the video in police custody, I understood. At first, when you are asked if you raped in Mazan, it is scary. »
@RMCInfo "I raped, I assume, I raped. When you see the video, you realize that what you did is serious," says Paul G.
@RMCInfo At the time, Paul G. was 23 years old, "I didn't think about the consequences of why I find myself here, like all of us. I went there to have a good time for my enjoyment. " assures this defendant who is the first to admit all the facts without nuance
@RMCInfo "We're not monsters, I have a child, I have to take care of this child, I'm his only parent, it's not so that you feel sorry for us. We are not monsters, we are men like everyone else. Madam, I am sincerely sorry and I ask your forgiveness."
@RMCInfo "Even we today wonder why we did this. And I am ready to submit to psychological follow-up if it is requested by the courts. Paul G.
@RMCInfo Hearing suspended resumed this afternoon for the questioning of Cédric G.
@RMCInfo ✍️🎨
I missed the resumption with the interrogation of the facts of Cédric G.
@cecileollivier @JulietteCampion continued Lt 🙏
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At the Mazan rape trial, the investigating judge details the "colossal" investigative work carried out in the Pelicot case
At the Mazan rape trial, the investigating judge details the "colossal" investigative work carried out in the Pelicot case
Article written byJuliette Campion -
France Télévisions
Published on 08/11/2024 15:41Updated on 08/11/2024 16:38
Reading time: 6min
For nearly two hours, Gwenola Journot justified certain choices and described the investigations carried out. "Initially, we thought we would have 15 people to investigate," she explained. Fifty-one men were finally tried.
She will have dedicated more than three years of work to this sprawling project. Investigating judge Gwenola Journot was summoned on Friday, November 8, before the criminal court of Vaucluse, during the trial of Dominique Pelicot and his 50 co-defendants for having raped Gisèle Pelicot for a decade at her home in Mazan.
Seized in November 2020, after the arrest of the septuagenarian a month earlier in a supermarket in Carpentras, the magistrate had issued her indictment order in June 2023: a document of nearly 370 pages, for 31 volumes of investigation. "On a case of this magnitude, we could have done ten years of investigation," explains Gwenola Journot, dressed in a black dress and a white vest.
"Avec les enquêteurs, on a voulu être pragmatiques et faire en sorte que monsieur Pelicot puisse être jugé dans un délai raisonnable."
Gwenola Journot, juge d'instruction
devant la cour criminelle du Vaucluse
La partie civile lui demande des précisions, notamment ce qu'il est advenu des "femmes endormies et non identifiées", visibles sur certaines photos de Dominique Pelicot. La magistrate précise avoir signalé "4 ou 5 profils de coauteurs susceptibles d'avoir reproduit les agissements sur leur conjointe", soulignant qu'une enquête a été ouverte pour une femme qui était effectivement victime de soumission chimique par son mari. "Ça, c'était une satisfaction", souligne-t-elle.
"J'ai visionné toutes les vidéos"
Antoine Camus, one of the lawyers for the civil party, questioned her: why did she not try to deepen the investigations into possible assaults suffered by Caroline Darian, the daughter of the Pelicot couple? Photos of her, naked and asleep, were found on her father's hard drive. She thinks she was drugged and raped by him. "This is the only point where Dominique Pelicot did not have any explanations. He denied it outright," said the investigating judge. The main defendant maintained his denials during the trial.
The lawyer goes on to report that "the interest of watching the videos has been fiercely debated and criticized", on the grounds that there would be "a form of free viewing, bordering on voyeurism". Just this week, a defense lawyer protested against showing the images of his client. These are only broadcast when a defendant does not admit to the facts of rape. At times, defence lawyers left the room in protest.
"For me, that's the central element, the videos. I have seen them all," retorts Gwenola Journot, specifying that they have almost all been shown "in interrogation and then in confrontation". The magistrate therefore had to go through hundreds of rape films, for the needs of the investigation, as did the police, who transcribed everything in their reports.
"We were forced to make waves of arrests"
Stéphane Babonneau, Gisèle Pelicot's other lawyer, took over and asked her to reconsider her methodology. She remembers that at the time of the opening of the judicial investigation, Dominique Pelicot "spoke of about thirty people who came to her home, half of whom would have only watched". "Initially, we thought we would have 15 people to investigate," she recalls. "Very quickly, the investigators estimated that we would be at 60 or 70."
"We quickly understood that we could not make all the arrests at the same time. We knew that we would most likely lose evidence, especially digital evidence, but we were forced to make waves of arrests," says Gwenola Journot. Ten waves in total, in groups of ten men, according to the capacities of the Avignon police station.
"We realised that Coco was the central element. There were no links in real life between the defendants."
Gwenola Journot, investigating judge
before the criminal court of Vaucluse
During the investigation, the magistrate had also noted that the version of the "libertine scenario", put forward by several defendants and not very present during the first arrests, had become more and more evoked as the waves of arrests and the media coverage of the defense of some of the defendants increased.
"The cabinet was really very busy"
In consultation with the judicial police, it decided to put an end to the investigations, even if about twenty perpetrators, some of whom "we barely see, in a very blurry way", could not be identified. For those for whom it was possible to extract usable photos, a plate was distributed "in all the gendarmeries, all the municipal and national police", which allowed the recognition of one of the accused.
The attorney general asked him to recall the "human and material" conditions in which Gwenola Journot had investigated this case "in 31 months". "You were in charge of an investigation firm and it was one of the files of your cabinet," he stresses. The magistrate explains that she first managed the whole thing alone, then received the help of colleagues, who absorbed the referrals. "The transplant has been duplicated," she adds, half-heartedly acknowledging "complicated conditions".
Especially since between 2020 and 2023, she received other, "heavy" files. "We had a lot of settling of scores on drug trafficking in Cavaillon. So the office was really very busy," says the magistrate.
"Afterwards, the Pelicot case was a priority. So I put it first."
Gwenola Journot, investigating judge
before the criminal court of Vaucluse
The public prosecutor asked her to specify how many other cases she had to manage, in addition to this one. "Ninety cases on average," replies Gwenola Journot. The last word goes to Olivier Lantelme, another defense lawyer: "I think, in the midst of the judicial shortage, you have done a colossal and quality job," he reassures her.