French judge in mass rape trial will allow public to see videos of the alleged attacks in court
A French judge in the trial of 50 men accused of raping an unconscious woman has decided videos of the alleged sex attacks can be shown to the public in court.
Warning: This story contains distressing details of rape and sexual abuse
Gisele Pelicot, who has waived her right to anonymity, was allegedly drugged by her ex-husband before he invited strangers to rape her over the course of a decade.
The case has shaken France and led to hundreds of women protesting in Paris in support of Ms Pelicot, 71, and rape victims.
Judge Roger Arata’s decision to allow journalists and members of the public attending the trial to see footage of the alleged attacks marks a stunning reversal in the case.
It comes after a two-week legal battle in which journalists following the trial argued that the videos were crucial for a full understanding of the extraordinary case.
Ms Pelicot, who has become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France, also wants the videos to be shown as she hopes the trial will serve as a national example, one of her lawyers, Stephane Babonneau, said.
The videos will allege to show men sexually abusing Ms Pelicot’s inert body.
Ms Pelicot earlier insisted that the trial be public, against the court in Avignon’s suggestion that it be held behind closed doors.
Since the hearings started on 2 September, Ms Pelicot has come face to face almost daily with her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, and 49 other alleged rapists.
Gisele Pelicot with her lawyer Stephane Babonneau at the courthouse in Avignon. Pic: Reuters
She has been praised for her courage and composure, admired for speaking in a calm and clear voice and allowing that her full name be published – uncommon under French law for victims in rape trials.
“It’s a unique case: we don’t have one representation of rape. We have dozens, hundreds of videos of rape,” Mr Babonneau said.
“Gisele Pelicot thinks that this shock wave is necessary so that no one can say after this, ‘I didn’t know this was rape’.”
The explicit videos shown during the trial, which have underscored the difficulties that sexual violence victims can face in France, are especially important, Ms Pelicot’s lawyers say, since the vast majority of the defendants deny the allegations of rape.
Some defendants claim Ms Pelicot’s husband tricked them, others say he forced them to have sexual intercourse with her and that they were terrified.
People take part in a gathering in support of Ms Pelicot in September. Pic: AP
Others argue they believed she was consenting or that her husband’s consent was sufficient.
The videos, the lawyers say, speak for themselves.
With Friday’s decision, Judge Arata reversed his earlier 20 September ruling that the videos would be shown only on a case-by-case basis, and behind closed doors.
At the time, he had argued that they undermined the “dignity” of the hearings.
A day later, France’s Judicial Press Association filed a request against the decision, backed by Ms Pelicot’s lawyers.
Until now, each time a video was shown, journalists and members of the public had to leave the courtroom.
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A sketch of Dominique Pelicot in court
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Victim of Dominique Pelicot speaks
Jean-Philippe Deniau, a journalist who covers the judiciary for France Inter Radio and who has followed the trial, says the videos are essential to the people’s understanding of the case.
They would be no more disturbing than some of the evidence he has seen in the past, he said.
“When we work on trials about terrorist attacks, crimes, murders … there are always difficult moments,” Mr Deniau said.
As an example, he mentioned hearing several defendants earlier this week testify they had come to the Pelicots’ house in Provence to have consensual sexual intercourse, and that they were taking part in a “game” to see if they could get Ms Pelicot to wake up.
Mr Deniau said that following the ruling on Friday, the court was later in the day shown one four-minute recording from the collection of videos.
In his opinion, Mr Deniau said the video appeared to counter claims by the defendants of a consensual “game”.
Israel has said 24 hostages are alive in Gaza – after Donald Trump said there were 21.
The US president told reporters on Tuesday that three more hostages held by Hamas in Gaza had died – alarming their families.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Gal Hirsch, Israel’s coordinator for hostage issues, said the Palestinian militant group was holding 59 hostages of whom 24 were alive and 35 dead – figures unchanged since before Mr Trump‘s comments.
He said 54 of the 59 were Israeli citizens and five of them were foreign nationals.
“All families of the kidnapped are always updated with the information we have about their loved ones,” he said.
The group representing the families of hostages had asked the Israeli government to share any new information with them immediately following Mr Trump’s comments.
It argues that Israel should stop the fighting and negotiate the release of the remaining hostages.
“This is the most urgent and important national mission,” it said on a post on X.
Most of the hostages returned alive to Israel so far have been released as part of deals with Hamas during two temporary ceasefires in late 2023 and early 2025.
The most recent ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners fell apart in March.
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Hamas took 251 hostages in its attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023 in which it killed 1,200 people.
Israel has responded with an air and ground assault on Gaza.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the start of the war. Its figures do not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
Israel says its two war aims are to destroy Hamas and release the hostages.
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Israel announces plans for Gaza
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced an expansion of its offensive on Gaza – increasing its hold on the territory, for an indefinite amount of time.
The plan includes seizing Gaza, holding on to captured territories, forcibly displacing Palestinians to southern Gaza and taking control of aid distribution along with private security companies.
Pakistan says it has been targeted in a missile attack by India.
Three missiles were fired by India across the border into Pakistani-controlled territory, said Pakistani security officials.
They hit locations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in the country’s eastern Punjab province, according to officials.
The Indian defence ministry said it had launched Operation Sindoor as it struck “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir “from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed”.
It said a total of nine sites were targeted.
A Pakistan military spokesman said the country will respond to the attacks.
Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours have been escalating following a militant gun attack in the disputed area of Kashmir last month.
At least 26 people, most of whom were Indian tourists, were shot dead by gunmen at a beauty spot near the resort town of Pahalgam in the Indian-controlled part of the region on 22 April.
India described the massacre as a “terror attack” and said it had “cross border” links, blaming Pakistan for backing it.
Pakistan denied any connection to the atrocity, which was claimed by a previously unknown militant group called the Kashmir Resistance.
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24 April: Pakistani minister warns ‘all-out war’ possible
Since the attack, Pakistan’s military has been on high alert after a cabinet minister said Islamabad had credible intelligence indicating that India could attack.
And Pakistan’s defence minister Khawaja Asif told Sky News’ The World With Yalda Hakim that the world should be “worried” about the prospect of a full-scale conflict involving the two nations.
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Friedrich Merz has become Germany’s new chancellor after winning a second vote in the country’s parliament.
He unexpectedly failed in the first parliamentary ballot on Tuesday morning – the first time a chancellor has failed to be elected at the first attempt since the Second World War.
Initially, needing a majority of 316 out of 630 votes in a secret ballot, he received 310 – falling short by just six votes. On the second ballot he managed 325.
It means Mr Merz, the leader of the country’s CDU/CSU conservatives, has become the 10th chancellor since the end of the Second World War.
Friedrich Merz during his swearing in ceremony. Pic: Reuters
He had been expected to win comfortably after securing a coalition deal with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD).
It meant at least 18 coalition MPs failed to back him in the first round of voting.
Announcing the second vote, Jens Spahn, the head of the Union bloc in parliament, said: “The whole of Europe, perhaps even the whole world, is watching this second round of elections.”
Earlier, the leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Alice Weidel, said on X that Mr Merz’s failure to secure a majority in the first round showed the “weak foundation” on which his coalition was built, adding that it had been “voted out by the voters”.
Mr Merz, 69, succeeds Olaf Scholz and has vowed to prioritise European unity and the continent’s security.
Mr Merz (R) shakes hands with outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz (L). Pic: Reuters
His in-tray includes the Ukraine war and global tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent congratulations to Mr Merz and wished him “every success”.
The Ukrainian president added that the future of Europe was “at stake” and security will “depend on our unity”.
Mr Merz will also have to decide what to do about the AfD, which mainstream parties have refused to work with.
A “firewall” against collaborating with strongly right-wing parties has been in place since the end of the war.
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During federal elections in late February, the AfD scored its best-ever result while Olaf Scholz’s SPD dropped to about 16%.
The AfD is the second largest party in the lower house of the Bundestag and was officially designated as extremist last week by Germany’s domestic spy agency.
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