Tired and emotional
Good to see that the bros are learning from the Pelicot trial.
That last sentence is a translation of “Allez les tricoteuses!” That’s a vintage sexist insult dating back to The Revolution: it labeled women on the left who supposedly sat around knitting while heads rolled. It was not well received.
Gisèle Pélicot is as popular as ever with decent people. There was a huge crowd outside the Palais de Justice when she came out today (with plenty of men). In her talk she said that she had never had any regrets for asking for the trial to be open. Let us hope that her courage inspires other victims.There is some disappointment and surprise that some of the sentences were too light (as little as three years in some cases). Personally I have been disappointed that apart from Dominique Pélicot himself they have not given the full names of the rapists — just first names and an initial. There may be some legal reason for this: maybe they can’t give the full names until after any appeals are heard. I think that public exposure should be an important part of the penalty.
Avignon wouldn’t have been too far for me to drive three or four years ago, but it is now.
For the curious, here are the full names, ages, and sentences of 50 of the rapists, including some details such as occupations and previous convictions. Many of them turn out to be child molesters also.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c785nm5g5y1o
Given how the Revolution turned out *cough* Napoleon *cough* I’ll doff my non-existent hat to the knitters.
All the women of France need to take up knitting.
In front of this guy’s house.