France’s Horrifying Rape Trial Has a Feminist Hero

from The New York Times I'm Michael. boaro this is the. [Music]. daily as soon as this week after months. of testimony verdicts are expected in a. rape trial that has both horrified and. captivated the people of. France today my colleague correspondent. Katherine Porter on the woman at the.

center of that trial and how with a. single decision she has turned the power. dynamics of the me too era on their. head it's Wednesday December. [Music]. 18th Katherine it has been a really long. time and I am very glad to be speaking. with you me too it's nice to back with.

you. Michael so we're going to be talking. today about a case that when it first. began to reverberate outside of France. where you are really shocked the world. and then as even the most shocking. things do it kind of receded from our. Collective Consciousness but not from. yours no oh my God and I I think it. hasn't receded from the French. consciousness.

either because once you put your mind to. it and you lock your eyes on it it's. really hard to tear them away this is a. story of a rape trial in which. 51 men are on trial at the same time for. raping or sexually assaulting the same. woman so I think that even if you just. hear that much it's so much to handle. but there's all these other elements.

that have made this casee impossible to. look away from and the most important. one is the woman at the center and the. way she has conducted herself throughout. this trial and her decision really to. use her own private torment and hell as. a force for greater good to change. society well to understand how the woman. at the center of this case does this.

remarkable thing let's start at the. beginning of this case sure so this case. begins in the end of 2020 and it. involves a married couple living in the. south of France jizelle pelico and her. husband. Dominique they had been married for. about 50 years and had retired from the. Paris region and moved down to this. small idyllic town and in many ways they. lived like a a very idelic life he was.

going for long bike rides she had become. a big Walker they had three children who. they're very close to and seven. grandchildren who would come down for. long weekends and by all accounts they. were very happy except for she was. suffering some weird medical problems. her hair was falling out she had lost. quite a bit of weight but most notably. she had these increasing blackouts and. he was driving her to different medical.

appointments to try and figure out what. was going. wrong and then one day in September. things began to really. [Music]. change her husband Dominique is caught. by security guards filming up the skirts. of women in a nearby grocery store and. they call the police the police come and. they take not only his two cellon phon.

and cameras he's using but they go back. to his house and get his laptop and some. other. electronics and they discovered. something pretty shocking on. [Music]. them they found these pictures and. videos of a woman who seemed to be. unconscious being raped and some screen. captures of conversations about raping. her so there is something very dark. happening just under the surface of what.

looks like this very idyllic life yeah. that is. right when all this is happening jizelle. is in Paris helping take care of some of. her. grandkids so she only learns about it. from her husband when she gets back and. he only tells her about the arrest at. the store not anything that the police. have found on his electronics because he. hasn't been confronted by that either he. says he was caught you know filming up.

the skirts of women and he's in tears he. apologizes and she says her reaction is. I will stay with you cuz I've always. Stood Beside You and I will forgive you. and their life kind of returns to what. it was beforehand. mhm and then in November the cops call. her and say do you know what's your. husband's been charged for and she says. yes I I do I'm you know I'm a little. worried about it but we're talking about.

it and we're going to work on it. together and they said well we like you. to come down when he comes down for his. next meeting at the police station so. that morning they get up they have. breakfast she says totally normal. conversation they get in the car they. drive to the police station he goes into. to meet with some police officers and. she goes in to meet with others and they. unload a. bombshell to tell her that the life as. she has known it is nothing nothing like. what she thinks it is.

is what exactly do they tell her they. tell her that these videos they've been. looking at on her husband's. electronics are of a unconscious woman. being raped by him and they believe it's. her and they believe not only that her. husband has been drugging her in order. to rape her but he has been inviting. strangers into their home to join him in.

raping. her an. unfathomable piece of information to. absorb I have to imagine because in this. moment she is hearing that her whole. life is not what she thought it was and. that the man she's married to is a. monster not only married to she's been. with him since they were teenagers she's. built her entire life around this man. she has said that she contemplated.

committing suicide that night wow. because it would just be almost. impossible to conceive of or to. accept that the person that is your. person has been so terribly betraying. you m and just to be very clear cuz it. almost seems impossible to wrap one's. head around. this she if I'm intuiting from you. correctly.

has no inkling of any of this no and. it's even worse than that Michael. remember I told you about those horrible. symptoms she had been. suffering the hair loss the weight loss. but most worrying the blackouts well in. the end you know he was driving her to. all these medical appointments and it. was the drugs he was mixing into her. food and drink that were causing those. symptoms in the first place.

wow and in the meantime the police are. continuing their investigation mhm they. find this hard drive in the couple's. garage and on the hard drive they find. about. 20,000 photos and videos most of them. filed in a folder that Mr pelico had. labeled abuse and these are videos and. photos of the rape scenes in that room. at night when he's inviting men over.

he's cut into a separate little either. video or or photo to keep for himself. and through these you know. 20,000 little data points plus using his. Skype conversations they start tracking. down these men and start arresting them. in waves over many months and what do we. learn about these men accused of this.

unbelievably horrible act well in The. French Press they started calling them. Miss ton Mr every man because really. when you look at. them the guys who have been charged. range in age from late 20s to in their. 70s their grandfathers many of them are. fathers themselves they kind of span all. the range of middle class or working. class men in small town France they're.

truck drivers or Carpenters one of them. is an IT specialist in a bank and. another is a. journalist uh number of them have. history of drug or alcohol abuse and. some of them have their own history of. sexual assault in their own lives as. children but the thing that's the most. remark about them is that they just seem. like you know your next door neighbor. they could be your next door neighbor. and in the end that's what really.

shocked a lot of French people is that. they were their next door neighbors it. feels like this is normally the stage in. a story like this as we know from. countless meoo episodes of this show. that we have made where despite even the. unique horrors of of what you're. describing here the legal system kicks. in in this kind of predictable way and. the media world starts to pay attention.

in a way that focuses very heavily on. the perpetrators on the men and the. victim the woman here quite. understandably remains. Anonymous right because most victims are. offered the right to have a closed trial. and most of them take it now I've. covered a lot of rape trials in my. career and almost never named the victim. in them I can think of only one other. time.

because most rape victims don't want. their names out there because there's a. lot of Shame around rape even though. it's. completely undeserved and there. shouldn't be shame but people feel. culpable in some way and so I fully. expected her as a grandmother as someone. who was not a feminist activist before. to take the regular path of deciding to. have her. case be private mhm so I wrote the first.

story and I was very careful we didn't. want to identify her so she had moved. out of that town and she had changed her. last name to her maiden name so we could. use her name as Jazelle and that's it. and then her lawyer said to me that she. seemed pretty sure she was going to go. public huh and I. thought you know I just didn't believe. it. because I thought there's there's no way.

that the 71-year-old. grandmother would once she got into. court decide to use her full name and to. be the face of such a traumatic series. of rapes MH but in the end she decided. in a very poignant statement that she. wanted shame to change. sze she thinks there's no place for.

shame on the side of the victim it. should be placed on the side of the. accused and she makes this Really Brave. and unusual decision to open her trial. to the public and use her married. name in other words to use her husband's. name. right so she decides on the day that the. trial opens that she will be known.

publicly as jizelle. [Music]. pelo we'll be right. back so C take us inside the courtroom.

into this trial and walk us through how. this remarkable decision ends up. influencing how the case plays out well. it meant that I could be in the. courtroom together with many other. journalists I'm inside the courthouse. now it's a big room there's a. raised bench behind which five judges. and two prosecutors sit and then the. very wide box that was built specially.

for this trial into the room the. courtroom was nothing like a courtroom. I've ever reported in it had been. retrofitted for all of these. accused the defendants are starting to. come in many have hats sunglasses and. surgical masks on to try and protect. their identities and what's really. noticeable is they appear to be full. range of Ages.

Styles looks some are very skinny and. gaunt the other has I'm looking at has. quite a big punch um it's it's a full. spectrum and you really get that sense. sitting here where I'm looking around. at just all it's like being in a bus all. sorts of people they're sitting all. around me as a journalist in the back of. the room but also right up against. Madame pelico who's sitting against one. wall wow behind her two lawyers and in.

front of her and all around her are the. accused men who are charged with raping. her from what you're saying the scale. the enormity of the alleged crime here. is just physically inescapable in the. room the enormity of the crime the. number of men but also what I was saying. before just the fact that you really. sort of physically and literally can see. this idea of Mr every man and at the.

center of it all quite literally the. scene is Jazelle pelico yeah Madame. pelico comes in that first day with her. two lawyers and her three children. trailing behind her and she literally. embodies this idea of not being ashamed. she's so dignified what do you mean well. you know I just imagine and this would. be a moment of great.

nervousness of Fury of Anger of probably. emotional. crisis and yet from the first moment. Madame pelico has been literally the. picture of poise and Grace and calm. she's like a classic Parisian. grandmother her clothing is perfectly. appointed not too beautiful but also. just neat and tidy her hair she's got a.

nice Bob her head is held high and when. she took the stand the first day she. described how her life had fallen apart. that morning when she stepped into the. police station and how she is making. this decision that she wanted France to. look at rape straight and she thought. that this was the time for the country. to have. a big conversation around what it means.

to be raped and how prevalent it is she. says this out loud which sounds a bit to. me like the words of a civil rights. figure not a French grandmother yeah she. says this out loud and not only does she. say this she and her lawyers fight to. have these videos play in court in the. public videos of her sexual assault. videos of her sexual assaults many of.

them because many of the men are denying. that this was rape they basically saying. they believed that she consented to this. and that they hadn't intended to rape. her and here they have unlike most rape. victims they have evidence of what had. exactly happened in that room they have. videos H so after lifting the veil of. anonymity that so often surrounds the. victim she's now making sure that there. is. no anonymity whatsoever around the.

conduct of the accused men she's making. sure that every graphic horrific detail. of this case is aired publicly and you. know when they are played in court this. real awkward silence. descends and after a few minutes many. journalists stop looking at the screens. because it's so uncomfortable her snores.

are. filling the courtroom the evidence of. her unconsciousness it's just she is I. mean one of the one of the doctors in. the case described her as a corpse and. she sits there throughout I have never. seen her leave the courtroom while one. of those videos is playing it's hard for. me Katherine to Fathom what kind of a. defense can be put forward by the dozens.

of men many of them in this courtroom. knowing what's on those videos these. audible sounds of her being asleep so. what are they saying or do we expect. them to say in this trial in their own. defense if anything right I mean most. cases of rape or he said she said but. here is there the library of. proof and yet most of the men say what.

almost every man says in defense when it. comes to rape that they thought she was. consenting most of them say that they. had not come to rape her but that Mr. pelico had invited them over for a. threesome and had either explained to. them that she was pretending to sleep. and it was part of their fantasy that. she'd be woken up up by this stranger.

together with her husband or some say. that they were told that she had taken a. few sleeping pills just as they got. there to help her relax cuz she was shy. and a few by the end were're saying that. they believe that Mr pelico had also. drugged. them that even though in the videos they. seemed totally normal and weren't. sleeping were very active that they have.

no memory of what happened in there and. they believe that somehow he had slipped. something into a glass of water and had. drugged them and since we're talking. about the defense of these men what has. her. ex-husband said in his. defense he has plad guilty he has said. that he was traumatized as a child and. that he had these impulses that just got. stronger and stronger and he couldn't.

help himself and that his wife did not. deserve this and that he loved her. despite all the evidence to the contrary. so he is in no way denying that the. worst conceivable version of this is. exactly what happened right he's in fact. saying that these men who say they were. tricked or they didn't understand that. she was drugged that they're all lying. that he says clearly I am a rapist and. all of these men in the room are rapists.

just like me. H you had said that Jazelle pelico. wanted to change society with this. approach to the trial by letting herself. be named by opening it up to reporters. like you so the question is has she. accomplished that and if she has how. exactly well let me tell you what I've. experienced going to the courtroom you. know the first few days there were just.

a few reporters and then by I would say. the second week there were not just many. more reporters there were crowds and. crowds of mostly women coming to get a. seat in this Courthouse to watch her wow. I'm standing outside um the courtroom. and people are are leaving and there's a. a walkway that uh has formed of. Spectators mostly women outside the.

um oh and they are applauding Madame. Palo while she walks out you can hear. them pling saying. bra and when she would leave the. courtroom at the end of every day they. started to form an honor line and line. her root to applaud. her and cheer. her and that crowd is not subsided. sh you know I met a bunch of feminists.

that are part of a small feminist. organization in AV in the courthouse. they've been going regularly to watch. the trial and at night they have been. taking what they've heard inside the. courtroom and pasting it on the walls of. Aenon in a way to kind of shock the city. I think and shock the country to listen. to what these men were saying in the. rooms so some of them that I passed on.

the streets on the way to the courthouse. were like it was an involuntary rape or. it was an accidental rape W or one that. really stopped me was I raped her with. my body but not with my. mind it feels like if this scene outside. the courtroom is any indication that. what Jazelle pelico wants to happen. around shame and rape culture it's. actually already starting to happen she.

is effectuating this change herself yeah. the response has been. enormous people are talking about this. around the dining room table on the. radio in the newspapers the stories in. the newspapers have just been.

erupting men are talking about toxic. masculinity and needing to change. it women have been talking about consent. and teaching consent in the classrooms. because that's something that has not. been happening in. France now she's really launched this. very large profound conversation. and you can feel it.

reverberating out across the. country it strikes me that the. unintended consequence of these longtime. practices that we use when it comes to. rape of shrouding a victim in anonymity. which makes so much sense for so many. reasons because of the shame you. described that they've had this. unintentional consequence that we.

haven't really thought that much about. which is we end up focused so little on. the women who have had this. experience because they mostly remain. anonymous we end up spending so much of. our time focused on the men and what's. changed here is that Jazelle pelico has. said not just that she's going to switch. up the question of shame but she's going. to switch up the question of basic power.

right I mean it's amazing to watch her. in those videos because she's so. objectified I mean she is not a human. being she is a sex doll basically and. she has taken something that she's so. objectified and become you know a fully. formed very powerful. [Music]. person something else Michael that. really resonated with me is that one of.

her lawyers said you know in most cases. trials when you keep a private it's just. you the victim facing the accuser alone. in a room and jelle pelico invited all. of France into that room with her and. all all the world all of all of us right. and and I think she felt um incredible. support because of that you know on the. last day of the court before the final. statements the judges asked her if she. had anything else she wanted to say and.

she got back up and she said you know at. the beginning of the trial her family. felt ashamed of the name pelico but she. felt that over the past 4 months she was. sure that the name Dominic pelico would. be long forgotten but the name that. people would remember from this court. case would be hers Jazelle pelico and. that already her grandchildren are proud.

to have that. [Music]. name well Catherine thank you very much. appreciate it thanks. [Music]. Michael we'll be right back.

here's what else you need to know today. Ukraine says it has assassinated the. general who led Russia's nuclear Defense. Force the general eigor kurilov was. killed when an explosive device planted. inside a scooter was detonated on. Tuesday Morning near the entryway to a. residential building it was one of. Ukraine's most Brazen assassinations. since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly 3. years ago. and this was a frightening well-planned.

targeted murder that was intended to. cause shock and attention and. intimidation on Tuesday New York City. prosecutors charged louigi mangion with. first deegree murder in the shooting. death of United Healthcare. CEO the charges branded mangion a. terrorist and portrayed his alleged. murder plot as a political.

act today's episode was produced by. Shannon Lynn and Eric krupky with help. from Rob zipco and Olivia Nat it was. edited by Lexi Di and Michael benois. contains original music by Marian Lozano. Pat mccusker and Sophia landman and was. engineered by Chris Wood our theme music. is by Jim runberg and Ben lurk of. wonderly special thanks to seol.

LR that's it for the daily I'm Michael B. see you tomorrow. [Music].