A former partner of a co-defendant in a mass rape trial that has sparked horror and protests in France broke down in tears on Monday, telling the court she had "lived a lie" and might herself have been sexually assaulted.
"I don't know if I was raped," Emilie O., told a criminal court in the southeastern French city of Avignon. "It's terrible, I will always have doubts."
Emilie O. is a former partner of Hugues M., one among dozens of men accused of participating in the mass rape over a decade of Gisele Pelicot.
Gisele's then-husband Dominique Pelicot has admitted to drugging her into unconsciousness and inviting strangers into their home to rape her.
The 71-year-old has been on trial since the start of the month along with 50 other men aged between 26 and 74, many of whom have denied the accusations.
Emilie O. said she herself might have been drugged and sexually assaulted by Hugues M., her former companion.
"I was manipulated and lived a lie," said Emilie O., who had lived with the man for five years.
"I'm still questioning everything," she said without glancing at her former partner.
- 'I was stunned' -
Recounting her story, Emilie O. broke down in tears as she looked at Gisele Pelicot, who smiled back at her in a show of support.
The 33-year-old said she had first met Hugues M. online and the two shared a passion for motorcycling.
She described Hugues M. as a respectful and considerate man but added that he repeatedly unfaithful to her.
Emilie O. said he had needed "adrenaline that he only found by riding a motorbike and engaging in sexual relations."
She began seeing her life with him in a different light when she learned in 2021 of the charges against her former partner.
Her life was turned upside down that year when she received a call from the Avignon police.
"I was summoned and told that Hugues had raped a woman in October 2019, a few days before my birthday," she said.
"I didn't believe them, I was stunned, shocked, I asked to see the photo and then I realised that it wasn't a nightmare," she said.
Hugues M. has been prosecuted for "attempted rape", having failed to achieve penetration.
She began doubting their entire relationship and thinks she might have suffered the same treatment as Gisele Pelicot.
One night in 2019 she woke up to her partner attempting to penetrate her digitally, Emilie O. said. She launched a complaint, but it was dismissed for "lack of material evidence."
She also experienced "dizziness" between September 2019 and March 2020, but investigators did not detect any substances that might have affected her at the time.
Gisele Pelicot has testified that for years she had strange memory lapses and other health problems and thought she might have had Alzheimer's.
- Missed birth of daughter -
In addition to Hugues M., the court began examining evidence against five more defendants.
Among them was Joan K., the youngest of the 50 co-defendants who was 22 at the time of the alleged assaults.
He is suspected of having visited the couple's home in the small town of Mazan to rape Gisele Pelicot on two occasions.
Born in French Guiana, he joined his brother in Avignon when he was 16 before enlisting in the army.
Joan K. was in a relationship with a woman he met on the internet, but their time together was marked by "numerous" conflicts and "extramarital relations", the court heard.
At the time of their separation, Joan K.'s partner was pregnant.
Gisele Pelicot has become an overnight feminist icon and received praise for demanding the trial be open to the public to raise awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse.
At the weekend a letter in support of Gisele Pelicot signed by more than 200 high-profile men was published in French daily newspaper Liberation.
The letter said measures needed to be taken against "male domination" in society.
"Male violence is a systemic reality," it said.
By David Courbet