An elderly French man has admitted to a decade-long plot in which he drugged his wife, invited dozens of men to rape her and then filmed the assaults.
The trial of Dominique Pelicot, 71, began Monday in Avignon, and his lawyer said he would not contest the charges, Le Parisien reported.
Police said Pelicot invited 83 men to commit a total of 92 rapes, according to The Times of London. Investigators tracked down 50 of the suspects, who are on trial alongside Pelicot.
While some of the men have also admitted guilt, others claimed they believed Pelicot’s wife had agreed to the situation, or that Pelicot could “do what he likes with his wife,” The Times reported.
Gisele Pelicot, 72, is in the process of divorcing her husband. Though she had the right to a private trial, she wanted the proceedings to be public, according to her lawyer.
“She wants to raise awareness, as widely as possible, of what happened to her so that events like these never happen again,” attorney Stephane Babonneau told The Times.
Gisele had no knowledge about what was happening to her until four years ago, according to police. She had been seeking treatment for various cases of memory loss.
But French police began investigating Dominique Pelicot after several women said he tried to take photos up their skirts inside a supermarket, Reuters news service reported. They seized several devices from his home in the investigation.
Looking through Pelicot’s devices, they found thousands of pictures and videos of various men abusing his wife, according to The Times. He was arrested again shortly afterward, and police spent years tracking down the men. The suspects range in age from 26 to 74.
Pelicot is also suspected in a 1999 attempted rape, which he admitted to, and a 1991 rape and murder, which he denied.