"This time last year, Beatrice Zavarro, a then unknown lawyer from Marseille, drew herself up to her full 1.45-metre (4ft 8in) height, and addressed the figure in the dock: It's you and me against the world. That man was Dominique Pelicot. Over the next three months and 17 days, the court would learn that for almost a decade he had drugged his wife, Gisele, and invited more than 50 men into their bedroom to rape her while she was unconscious."
"Zavarro's decision to defend a man who would become France's worst sexual predator brought threats, shouts of How could you? from protesters outside the court and a grim nickname: the Devil's Advocate. She maintained a clear and uncompromising line: she was defending the man, not his crimes. For the 55-year-old criminal lawyer, as for many in the court in Avignon, the unprecedented trial was a life-changing experience so much so that she has written a book about it."
Beatrice Zavarro, a 55-year-old criminal lawyer from Marseille, defended Dominique Pelicot at a widely publicized trial in Avignon. Pelicot had drugged his wife Gisele and invited more than 50 men into their bedroom to rape her while she was unconscious, crimes revealed over a three-month, 17-day trial. Zavarro faced threats, protesters and the nickname 'the Devil's Advocate' while insisting she defended the man, not his crimes. The trial had a profound personal impact and led to a book. Pelicot received a 20-year maximum sentence and must serve at least two-thirds in solitary confinement; he is also under investigation for earlier suspected assaults.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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