Gisele Pelicot, French victim of mass rape, hopes trial will help other women
CNNReuters — Gisele Pelicot, the 72-year-old victim of mass rape whose ordeal has shocked the world, told a trial in southern France on Wednesday that she was determined that making her case public should help other women and change society. “I’ve decided not to be ashamed, I’ve done nothing wrong,” Gisele Pelicot, who has become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence, told the court in Avignon. “They are the ones who must be ashamed,” she said, adding that having videos, filmed by her husband, of some of her rapes, shown during the trial, was “very difficult but necessary.” “I’m not expressing hatred or hate, but I am determined that things change in this society,” said Gisele Pelicot. “By apologizing, they are trying to excuse themselves.” Saying her husband’s betrayal of her trust was beyond measure, Gisele Pelicot told the court: “I’m a woman who’s totally destroyed.” She had thought he was the perfect husband, she told the court, before adding: “My life has tumbled into nothingness.”