Frenchman in mass rape trial won’t attend court due to ill health, says lawyer
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A court sketch showing Dominique Pelicot, who is on trial for recruiting strangers to rape his heavily sedated wife.
PHOTO: AFP
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AVIGNON, France - A Frenchman on trial for recruiting strangers to rape his heavily sedated wife will not appear in court on Sept 16 because of ill health, his lawyer said.
The presiding judge had adjourned the trial of Dominique Pelicot until Sept 16 after the accused was excused from attending proceedings for most of last week because of his deteriorating health.
But his lawyer told AFP that Pelicot, 71, was still not well enough to attend on Sept 16.
“He will not be there today,” Ms Beatrice Zavarro said, unless “he is taken by force” from his cell.
She said Pelicot was suffering from “a clot in the bladder” and the beginning of a kidney infection, she said.
The court now has the option to adjourn the trial again until Pelicot can attend.
Pelicot is accused of enlisting dozens of strangers to rape his drugged wife
He has been on trial since the start of September, along with 50 other men aged between 26 and 74, for alleged involvement in a case that has horrified France.
Most risk up to 20 years in jail for aggravated rape.
Ms Gisele Pelicot, his ex-wife who discovered the abuse only in 2020, requested that the trial be open to the public to raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse. AFP
