Paris:

The presiding judge said the main defendant in the gang-rape trial that has sparked panic and protests in France was absent on Monday because he is “sick” and must undergo medical treatment.

Dominique Pellicote, 71, has been on trial since September 2 on charges of raping and recruiting strangers to abuse his estranged wife Giselle for nearly a decade.

The trial had already been briefly halted in mid-September due to the absence of Dominique Pellicote, who was suffering from intestinal problems.

“He’s sick. He’s due for medical treatment this afternoon,” Judge Roger Arata said at the start of the hearing in the southeastern city of Avignon on Monday. “We’ll see tomorrow,” he added.

Dominique Pellicote was excused ahead of Friday’s hearing to undergo a medical examination.

His lawyer, Beatrice Zavaro, told AFP on Sunday that the test “went well”.

Pellicote has pleaded guilty to the charges against him.

He is being tried along with 50 other men aged 26 to 74, most of whom have denied rape. The maximum risk is up to 20 years in prison if convicted of aggravated rape.

Seven more defendants will be called to testify on Thursday.

Among them is Jerome V, 46, a former grocery store employee who sexually assaulted Giselle Pellicote six times in 2020 at the couple’s home in the southeastern French town of Mazan.

Dominique’s ex-wife Gisele Pellicote, who only discovered the abuse in 2020 after she was told about it by police, has requested that the case be kept open to the public so that the sexual abuse can be investigated. To raise awareness about the use of drugs.

(Other than the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

(Translation of tags) by Giselle Pellicote



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