MAZAN, France (AP) — The mayor of a French town in the news over the trial of dozens of men accused of rapes that took place there over a nearly decade-long period has apologized for comments that appeared to trivialize the case.
“I have been criticized for minimizing the seriousness of the heinous crimes of which the defendants are accused,” Louis Bonnet, the mayor of Mazan in southern France, said in a statement Thursday. “I understand that these comments are shocking and I sincerely apologize.”
Dominique Pelicot, 71, told a court in the nearby city of Avignon this week that he drugged his wife for nearly 10 years and invited dozens of men to rape her as she lay defenseless.
In an interview with the BBC, According to Bonnet, the case could have ended much more seriously.
“There were no children involved, no women were killed, the family will have a hard time, but they can rebuild. After all, no one died,” he told the announcer.
Gisèle Pelicot, who was married to her husband for 50 years and had three children with him, has become a heroine for many rape victims and a symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France, because she gave up her anonymity in the case, made the trial public and appeared openly before the media.
Her ex-husband and the 50 other men on trial, aged 26 to 74, face up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.
“This terrible story has deeply hurt our community,” the mayor said in the statement. “But I am fully aware that this wound is in no way comparable to the suffering of Gisèle Pelicot and her family.”