Media time does not always align with judicial time.
A year ago, under the full glare of the spotlight, the Pelicot trial began. France held its breath during the four long months of this marathon trial, which pitted one woman against fifty-one men, co-defendants accused of having raped her through chemical submission.
All fifty-one co-defendants were convicted at the end of this exhausting trial – exhausting in every possible sense: human, sociological, philosophical, emotional, and judicial. The exhaustion was worth it: the legal definition of rape is now about to be amended in France to explicitly include the notion of lack of consent (though it’s taking time, since, as everyone has noticed, French political life is a bit chaotic these days).
Following the verdict, seventeen of the convicted men appealed, then fourteen, then thirteen, and finally one only remained: Husamettin D.
During the first trial, Husamettin D. explained that he had initially thought Gisèle Pelicot was dead, but was reassured by Dominique Pelicot, who told him she had simply drunk too much.
During the first trial, Husamettin D. rejected the label of “rapist,” always adopting the posture of a victim himself, claiming he had been manipulated by Dominique Pelicot.
During the first trial, Husamettin D. never ever grasped the notion of consent.
As a result, he was sentenced to nine years in prison.
And since he appealed, here we are again, one year later, before the Gard Court of Assizes. Unlike the Vaucluse Criminal Court in the first instance, the Gard Court of Assizes includes three professional judges and nine citizen jurors.
The appeal trial lasted three days and concluded on October 9, 2025, with a harsher sentence than the first one: ten years in prison.
His chances of acquittal were null, quite simply because it was clearly established both in the first instance and on appeal that Gisèle Pelicot was in no condition to consent to anything. Or to refuse anything. That Husamettin D. had no intention or will to rape is utterly irrelevant, since the facts show that Gisèle Pelicot simply wasn’t there — except for her drugged body.
This, I hope, is the last time Gisèle Pelicot sets foot in a courtroom. This judicial chapter is now closed, and well closed.
And yet, yes, truly, the media timeline does not necessarily coincide with the judicial timeline. The Pelicot trial, in its appeal phase, has gone largely unnoticed by the media. And for good reason: over the past four weeks, France has been holding its breath over the Jubillar trial before the Tarn Assize Court. What is it about? A spousal murder – in other words, a femicide. The verdict came down today, and Cédric Jubillar has been sentenced to thirty years in prison. France will now hold its breath again for the trial of the murderer of Lola, a twelve-year-old girl who was abducted, tortured, raped, and killed by a twenty-seven-year-old woman. Because yes, of course, there are also female predators – even if their number remains statistically marginal.
As our Anglo-Saxon friends so often say, with deep irony: What a time to be alive.
Editor’s note: Since I have no desire to post photos of myself alongside such heavy texts, I continue my litany of places of Justice: here we are now at the Administrative Court of Paris – the building and the gardens.
October 17, 2025
