Gisèle Pelicot and the 51 men she faced in court
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Hi there, I'm Catriona Perry from the BBC World Service. This is The Global Story. Now, before we get started, I want to let you know that this episode details allegations of rape and sexual violence, which can be distressing. Today, Giselle Pellico and the 51 men she faced in court.

For months now, a courtroom in the small French town of Avignon has demanded the world's attention. From there, incomprehensible evidence has emerged. Evidence that a husband drugged and sedated his wife over a period of years. Evidence that he invited at least 50 men into their home to have sex with her while she was unconscious. And evidence that many of those men didn't realise or care that was wrong.

But the world has also heard testimony from Giselle Pellico, a woman who refused to be a silent victim and showed the world that the shame of those years was not hers to bear. To all the victims I say today, look around you. You are not alone. In the coming days, a court will decide if what happened to her is legally considered rape. So...

How is France reckoning with the 50 men Giselle Pellico faced in court? So to talk about this case, I'm joined today by our correspondent in Paris, Andrew Harding. Hi, Andrew. Hi, Catriona. Now, Andrew, lots to talk about here, but let's start in the village of Mazin where Dominique and Giselle Pellico were living. I know you visited there earlier this year. Tell us a little bit about the place.

I've been back a few times, Katrina. It's a very pretty little village,

just in the foothills of the great big mountain Mont Ventoux, which is famous from the Tour de France. It's a very steep climb and it's surrounded by lavender fields, by vineyards and the town itself. It's got narrow little streets, a medieval cathedral church in the centre. And it's well known as one of the small towns outside the bigger city of

Avignon, where a lot of people from further north in France come to retire, which is exactly what Dominique and Giselle Pellicot did. And we're talking about a couple who got married when they were just 21 years old, a marriage that lasted for almost 50 years. I mean, it's their whole lives together, really. She worked as a logistics manager. He worked as an electrician. They raised three children.

But what do we know about their relationship, about their lives together over those years? So fundamentally, both look back on their marriage as something rather wonderful, particularly Dominique talking about Giselle being a great mother. And in return, Giselle talking about Dominique as the perfect husband, somebody who organized wonderful surprise birthday parties for their three children, a daughter and two sons.

Both of them admit that there were problems, that both of them had been unfaithful in the past some decades ago. There were sometimes money problems, but they got through that. And there was a sense, I think, from both of them, certainly from Giselle's point of view, that they were going to be together for life. But that was all shattered in September 2020.

Tell us about how Dominique Pellicot first came to the attention of the police. So it turned out that Dominique Pellicot, not for the first time, had been trying to film up women's skirts. He'd done it a few years earlier, being led off with a caution. But in September 2020, he went to the nearby town of Carpentras and tried to film up several women's skirts in the supermarket there.

significantly, crucially, he was confronted and caught by a local security officer in that shop who didn't give up and didn't wave this away as just something awkward that perhaps is best forgotten about. He insisted, he told the women who'd been victims of this that they should report Dominique Pellico to the police, which they promptly did. The police detained Dominique Pellico and said,

The initial plan was just to let him off with a warning. He returned home to the family house in Mazon and his wife was shocked. He told her what had happened. She was disappointed but said she would stick by him, that that was what a couple needed to do, that if he got help, saw somebody professional, she would stick by him.

But the police brought in a psychiatrist to actually chat with Dominic Pellico when he was under arrest. And this psychiatrist said there was something a bit off about the way he was behaving. He seemed to be too relaxed about it. It was as if he was almost laughing it off. And that made him warn the police officers, look, there might be more to this guy. You should look into him.

So what the police did then is they went to the Pellico's home and they confiscated Dominique Pellico's telephone and at least one computer, a laptop. And that's when this case suddenly turned into the nightmare that we now know.

So what else did the police uncover on those hard drives, those devices at that time? They stumbled upon at least 20,000 photos and videos that had been meticulously compiled by Dominique Pellico over almost a decade. And those videos in particular showed excruciatingly detailed, grotesque images

images of a lifeless body on a bed, clearly the Pellico's bedroom. It was Giselle Pellico and a series of strangers were coming to attack her. It was hard to recognise myself. Her testimony spoken here by a translator. But then the officer showed me a second photo and a third. I asked him to stop. It was unbearable. I was lifeless in my bed.

and a man was raping me. My world fell apart. I'm speaking now, not for myself, but for all the women that are raped and abused.

Each of these videos was labelled in different ways, making it clear that to some extent Dominique was relishing curating all these videos. And what do we know about the scale of this? I mean, you mentioned over a decade. How many individuals were involved? So the police say it was somewhere between 70 and 80 individuals that they curated.

identified or could nearly identify on those videos and those photos. In the end, the police tracked down 51 of them. One then died, one's on the run. But 50 men, as well as Dominique Pellico, were identified because their faces were clear on those videos participating in the abuse of Giselle Pellico.

So the police discovered all of this material and then it was the police who had to tell Giselle Pellico what they had found.

She's talked about it in court, we know through her lawyer, that that day is really the defining moment of her life, that nothing will ever be worse than that day. She'd had breakfast with her husband. He told her that they were being called into the police station in Carpentra again. It was probably a follow-up, nothing to worry about.

They went in together into the police station. Immediately, the police said to Dominique, come this way and to Giselle, come the other way. She was taken into an office. She was sat down and they warned her, we're about to show you some pictures and some videos and brace yourself. And they then told her that they have evidence here

that her husband had been doing this to her and that they believed that he'd been drugging her and raping her and inviting strangers in over all this time. They told her about this website that the men had been using to meet. There was a chat group on there where Dominique Pellicot went. It was called Assent Insou. In French, that means without her knowledge. Attracting people who were

lured by the idea that they would be having sex with somebody without her knowledge. And Giselle Pellico learnt of all this and for the next four years she did not see her husband again. He was whisked off to prison. She was left, as she put it, with her life utterly destroyed. So it was those videos, the evidence on those hard drives that, as you say, led to the arrest of Dominique Pellico.

He now faces multiple charges including rape, gang rape and privacy breaches by recording and disseminating those sexual images. In court we heard him plead guilty saying, I am a rapist just like all the others in this room.

And it also led to the arrest of 50 other men. And altogether, there are 49 charges of rape, one of attempted rape and one with sexual assault. And that set the scene for one of the most disturbing, incomprehensible and high-profile trials, really, that France has ever seen. Can you set the scene for us in the courtroom, Andrew, where this has all been taking place? ♪

Picture that scene on that first day when Giselle Pellico walked up the steps into the Palais de Justice on the outskirts of the medieval centre of Avignon. It was the first time anyone had seen her.

For those four years, people had started hearing about this case, but it hadn't been much reported. Her identity had been kept a secret. Her face had been kept a secret. But she had decided that she wanted a public trial. So she walked up the steps. She was wearing dark sunglasses. She looked intimidated. She increasingly, we know, felt intimidated because the circumstances of the organisation of this trial were intense.

Extraordinary, to put it mildly, because as she walked up those steps, went through security, headed through the courthouse to the courtroom, so did at least 30 other men who were on trial, the defendants who were out on bail.

Most of them were wearing masks or hoods or in other ways trying to disguise their identity. But it quickly became clear to her that she was basically being jostled, walking among these men she believed had raped her. So it was a very intimidating atmosphere. She went into this very crowded court. It's a

big courtroom but it's not that big so a lot of journalists all these accused squeezed together all the lawyers and then on the left hand side Dominique Pellico himself the couple glancing across the courtroom seeing each other for the first time since that day in the police station in Carpentra and then the judges on a raised platform in front of them all

I think I've said everything I could. It's not easy. It's a lot of pressure. We're going to have to fight until the end. This trial is going to last four months. A very, very tense and dramatic situation you're describing there, Andrew. Tell us about some of those moments.

Those other men, how did they look? What sort of individuals did they seem to be? It's very hard to sum up these 15 men because they come from all ages, in their 20s to their 70s. They come from a range of jobs. Some are firemen, journalists, government worker, unemployed. Some look...

bearded, some are clean-shaven, some look quite professional, others look more rough around the edges, if you could say. We know that almost half of them have criminal records prior to this. More than half are in a relationship, married or otherwise.

And they are a mixed bunch. So lots of different men, lots of different backgrounds and occupations. And one of them was a nurse. That's right, Katrina. We actually went to see him during the trial. As you can imagine, most of the accused were

did not want to speak to the press, but this particular man did, and we went to his home, a small house on the outskirts of Avignon, and spoke to him for quite a considerable amount of time. When I go onto this website, it's to chat about things, it's to look for friendship, real friendships.

It was my destiny to meet this man, and it was my destiny to behave in the way in which I behaved. I need to accept my destiny.

So those videos, as you say, Andrew, which were kind of triggered these charges in the first place and were played in court, what, broadly speaking, was the evidence presented against all of these men? So the videos were there. All the men on trial had been identified on those videos. That was the reason they were in court. And indeed, numerous lawyers have said that without the videos, this case would never have come forward.

both to light or to trial, because it would have been, he said, she said, as so many rape trials are, they ever do come to trial. But this time they had this evidence, so they played a key role. Some men on the stand said, yes, yes,

I did this. Some admitted rape. More said, no, I did what you're saying I did, but then gave excuses. But when people pushed back and tried to deny certain things, that was normally the moment when the prosecution said, well, hang on, you're saying you were only there for five minutes. Shall we roll the cameras and play the real video that shows you were there for, say, 45 minutes?

So, it wasn't just the evidence that Giselle Pelico sat through in that courtroom. She also heard the defences presented by the 50 men accused of raping her. Next, how have they tried to explain what was in those videos? And how are people in France trying to make sense of such an incomprehensible series of events?

This is The Global Story. We bring you one big international story in detail five days a week. Follow or subscribe wherever you listen. I'm speaking to our Paris correspondent, Andrew Harding, and just a reminder, what we're talking about here, our conversation details allegations of rape and sexual violence.

So Andrew, we're going to talk now about the defence presented by some of these men accused of raping Giselle Pellico.

And it's useful to understand the law in France and the scope that it leaves the defence lawyers because these things are treated differently in different countries. What is the law in France as it pertains to these matters? So to rape is to penetrate somebody without their consent intentionally, either taking them by surprise or by force or by other means where a lack of consent is essentially implied.

And this is how the law is applied in France. The word consent is not specifically mentioned, which makes it different from British law. But most lawyers in France, including feminists and activists on this issue, say that because consent is implied in all those circumstances, they don't feel that it necessarily needs to be added to the law. Is it possible to...

I suppose, group them together into themes of what they're claiming as their defence to these charges. Yes, so you have a small number who fairly quickly admitted to rape. The vast majority, though, pled not guilty. The biggest reason that most of the men gave was we assumed there was consent because we

We go on this website, coco.fr. We do it all the time. We are invited into other couples' fantasies. This is a libertine zone, as they call it in France, a swinging zone. And we would go to other people's houses and they would have various fantasies that we would then act out in these scenarios. And the one presented to us was...

by Mr. Pellico, they would claim, was the wife, in this case, Giselle Pellico, likes to either pretend that she's sleeping or to be asleep or even unconscious. And then afterwards, in the morning, the next day, the couple would watch the videos back and would enjoy it. And that was their fantasy. And therefore, these men were being brought in as part of that fantasy. But there were others who presented a different defense of their acts.

Exactly. Some people were more, I suppose, ambiguous about that and they admitted that she was asleep, that perhaps that was inappropriate, but they felt that consent had somehow been implied and that they didn't feel they needed specifically Giselle Pellico's permission. They didn't need to wake her up or get it before or afterwards because they felt that the husband's permission was

was enough. And then there were others who were suggesting they'd been somehow coerced by Dominique to take part in this. Exactly. This came up quite a few times. And I think it's worth reflecting on the fact that here are 50 men sitting together in court. This process is taking years, weeks, months. And there is an opportunity for these men to listen to each other's

explanations, their defences and this was raised in court by some of the lawyers, the suggestion that actually these men were starting to borrow each other's excuses or learn from each other and I certainly think actually there is an argument you could make that for a lot of these men they did start to learn more

about consent and that they had made assumptions that they came later to realise were wrong, were mistaken and some of them did turn to Giselle Pellico and to look her in the eye and she would look them in the eye and they would say I'm sorry

I didn't understand then what I now understand about consent. But there was a separate group who started talking about the idea of Dominique Pellico being a kind of monster, this sort of grand, larger-than-life figure who either...

Pulled these men under his spell because he was so charismatic or in a more intimidating way that he somehow scared them into complying with his evil plans and that they went along with it because they were genuinely concerned that if they didn't, that they would be in deep trouble.

Now the problem with a lot of those arguments is that when they were made in court, a video would then be shown in which the man claiming that he was feeling intimidated could be seen, for instance, giving two thumbs up to the camera before he continued with his abuse, which clearly undermined that particular argument.

And those people who were claiming they'd been coerced includes the individual you mentioned earlier, this nurse, who you have spoken to. What did he say? Well, he was very clear, firstly, that he thought consent was implied, that he was there for a swinging fantasy scenario. He told me that it was for the couple's needs, to spice up their evenings together. They make this kind of film. It

excites them. But also that by the time he arrived at the Pellico's house and was ushered inside, he became increasingly scared of Dominique Pellico. He asks me to undress and he undresses and there I am, naked. At that moment, I'm terrified. I'm paralyzed. My brain is all over the place.

It wasn't what I expected, but I had to not frustrate him. I had to be good and stick to the script that had been decided on the Coco website. I didn't even dare to ask any questions because I was so afraid of him. So I complied.

He used this argument that he was intimidated, almost like a puppet master with a puppet. I'm sure that I cannot be a criminal. I know that. Because I know the circumstances that brought me to Pellico.

I know the manipulation of this man. He used trickery to bring me to his place. And once there, he used intimidation to terrorize me and to make me a tool in his hands, which he then used to rape his wife through me. I was reduced to the state of an instrument.

He was the one who told me, do this. It was quite an erratic performance by that nurse. He both accepted blame, denied responsibility, claimed responsibility, blamed Mr. Pellico, blamed himself. This was not a man who was making a persuasive case. So let's take this back to the woman at the centre of everything, to Giselle Pellico.

It was an incredibly brave decision for her to waive her right to anonymity and let these videos be shown in court. And one of her lawyers, Stéphane Babonéa, has spoken about how difficult it was for her to make that decision. She felt extremely humiliated about what she was seeing, extremely humiliated.

And she was extremely shocked of seeing herself becoming an object. She used very strong words, they using me not as a human being.

And I think that this achieved to help her deciding that she wanted an open trial, a public trial. And that in order to ensure that this would not happen again to anyone, it was important for the public to know how this could happen. And the reaction to her decision to waive her anonymity was immense. There was this huge groundswell of support there.

Did you see her demeanour change from those early days, as you've described there, of her jostling up against the alleged perpetrators, and then as the weeks and the months of this trial have rolled on? Did you notice a difference?

I did. It was a slow transition, but her lawyer has actually talked to me about that. And the moment when, for instance, those dark sunglasses came off and she suddenly started to feel more empowered, I think she was very buoyed up by the support. Every day, people inside the courthouse cheering her, or at least people approaching her with gifts. Bravo, Juliette!

She became increasingly aware that she had a chance to make a huge difference and she

I think you could see it in her body language. She started to smile, to wave slightly at some of the crowds. She still remains, you know, very much a sort of quiet, private person. And clearly she's still going through immense trauma. But you could see her growing into this really quite iconic role as people talked about, as you say, her decision, Katrina, to renounce the opportunity for privacy in this trial.

I wanted all women victims of rape, not just when they have been drugged. Rape exists at all levels. I want those women to say, Mrs. Pellico did it, so we can do it too. When you're raped, there is shame. And it's not for us to have shame. It's for them. It's true that I hear lots of women and men who say you're very brave.

I say it's not bravery, it's will and determination to change society. And also, for instance, to push the judge and the prosecution to play those extraordinary videos in the trial itself.

She argued that people had to understand the truth, as she put it, about what rape really is. That it isn't just something that happens in the dark at night in public spaces, in the park or whatever. It's something that happens in people's home. The same for the issue of what's known as chemical submission in France. That that is something as well that doesn't just happen in bars and clubs with people getting their drinks spiked.

But this is something that happens in people's homes again. And so I think she really felt that this could be a very teachable moment, a pivotal moment for French society. And she really kind of rose to that challenge. I would like to thank all of the people who have expressed their support since the start of this case. I am deeply moved by this push that gives me this responsibility.

Thanks to all of you, I have the strength to continue this fight until the end. A fight that I dedicate to all the people, women and men, around the world who have been victims of sexual assault. To all these victims I say today, look around you. You are not alone. How has France responded to...

this incredible trial and those incredibly strong and powerful statements. I think it has been a historic moment. I don't think there's any other way of putting it. There will always be a before the Pellico trial and an after the Pellico trial in what people know and what people believe about chemical submission, about drug-facilitated rape.

And I think it has stimulated, I know it has stimulated, a huge amount of conversation between people in the medical profession about their role, about how, for instance, drug testing kits should be made more widely available for women so that when they suspect drugs,

that they may have had a drink spiked, they can quickly go and check whether they have got some drugs in their bloodstream. So there are all sorts of ways which I think society in France is going to be absorbing this case. And what about that tiny, beautiful little town that you were describing at the start where the Pelicos lived?

How have they reacted to this knowledge of what was going on in their community? Well, some were and I think still are very worried about these other men. We know 30 of them still haven't been caught. There are tensions here because we don't know if we can trust our neighbours anymore.

Others, I think, are worried that their town's reputation may be forever tarnished and simply want to get on with their lives. I interviewed the mayor of Mazon early on in the case, and actually he displayed some really, I think, quite uncomfortable attitudes.

Only two or three of the men that went to see this woman are from our village. And what they're saying in the town is that no one has been killed. I say that what would have been very serious would have been if he had killed his wife. But in this case, that didn't happen. This woman will have trouble getting back on her feet again for sure.

But in the village of Carpentras, that you must have crossed to get here, a woman was raped coming back from work at night, and she was conscious while she was raped. She'll carry the physical and mental trauma for a long time, which is even more serious.

I feel like you're trying to diminish what happened. Yes, I am diminishing it because I think it could have been much worse. I say when there are kids involved or women killed, then that is very serious because you can't go back.

In this case, the lady will have to rebuild herself and the family. Yes, it will be hard, but no one died. You are truly diminishing the gravity of what happened? Yes, what happened is very serious, but I'm not going to say that the village should carry a crime that would surpass the limits of the acceptable.

Now, we should say, of course, that since speaking to you, Andrew, the mayor of Mazin has apologised for those comments. Now, we're expecting the verdicts towards the end of this week. I'm curious to know, how do you think has this case changed things in France?

And for Giselle Pellico herself, I mean, she's been the face of all of these discussions that you've been describing that are taking place in the country. We're expecting Giselle Pellico to give an interview or two in the new year after she's had time to rest and reflect on a pretty gruelling few months of the trial, let alone everything else that went before that. We...

don't know yet the impact of this case on the law, on the judicial system.

Most people that I speak to, most experts and lawyers, say what they really hope is that this case will stimulate more support for more investment in the judicial and investigative systems so that more cases can be brought to trial more quickly, that the police are more empowered, that there are these drug testing kits and so on. They're not so worried about changing the law. They just want more money and more focus on the nuts and bolts of

of police work and judicial work to make these cases stick. As for the wider public, it's hard to tell. I believe that this will be one of those moments that people will always remember, always talk about. But in the long run, it's very difficult to be sure. Andrew, I have to say thank you so much for your diligent and careful reporting on this and for sharing the story with us today. You're very welcome. Thank you.

And of course, as always, thanks so much to you for listening. If you want to get in touch, please do. You can email us at theglobalstoryatbbc.com or you can send us a message or a voice note on WhatsApp. Our number, plus 44 330 123 9480. And you can find those details in our show notes.

Wherever you're listening in the world, this has been The Global Story. Thank you for having us in your headphones. Bye-bye. Yoga is more than just exercise. It's the spiritual practice that millions swear by.

And in 2017, Miranda, a university tutor from London, joins a yoga school that promises profound transformation. It felt a really safe and welcoming space. After the yoga classes, I felt amazing. But soon, that calm, welcoming atmosphere leads to something far darker, a journey that leads to allegations of grooming, trafficking and exploitation across international borders. ♪

I don't have my passport, I don't have my phone, I don't have my bank cards, I have nothing. The passport being taken, the being in a house and not feeling like they can leave.

You just get sucked in so gradually.

And it's done so skillfully that you don't realize. And it's like this, the secret that's there. I wanted to believe that, you know, that...

Whatever they were doing, even if it seemed gross to me, was for some spiritual reason that I couldn't yet understand. Revealing the hidden secrets of a global yoga network. I feel that I have no other choice. The only thing I can do is to speak about this and to put my reputation and everything else on the line. I want truth and justice.

And for other people to not be hurt, for things to be different in the future. To bring it into the light and almost alchemise some of that evil stuff that went on and take back the power. World of Secrets, Season 6, The Bad Guru. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.