Mazan rapes trial: an appeal expected at the end of 2025 for the 17 defendants

The public prosecutor’s office has announced that the appeal trial for the 17 defendants in the Mazan rapes case will be held before the Gard assizes court in the last quarter of 2025. Meanwhile, Dominique Pelicot’s conviction, responsible for the assault on his ex-wife, is now final.

Regarding Dominique Pelicot’s conviction, the public prosecutor’s office specified that it would not appeal the decision concerning him. He had been sentenced to 20 years in prison, with a two-thirds security period, for drugging his ex-wife, Gisèle Pelicot, in order to rape her and deliver her to dozens of strangers. Therefore, his conviction is now final in the Mazan rapes trial.

On the other hand, the public prosecutor’s office decided to file an incidental appeal concerning the 17 defendants who have already appealed. This appeal allows their sentences to be reviewed, which could be either reduced or increased on appeal, while still maintaining the possibility of a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. Without an incidental appeal, their sentences could not have been aggravated.

These 17 defendants, who were incarcerated at the end of the trial, remain in prison, but under provisional detention status, as they are once again presumed innocent by filing an appeal. They have the option of requesting release before the appeal trial, and some may even withdraw their appeal in the coming months, making their conviction final.

The other defendants have until midnight on Tuesday, December 31, to appeal their conviction. After this deadline, their sentences will become final.

The public prosecutor’s office has specified that the appeal trial will be held before the Gard assizes court between October and December 2025.

Dominique Pelicot does not appeal his conviction
Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer, Me Béatrice Zavarro, announced that her client would not appeal his conviction. “Dominique Pelicot does not want to put Mrs. through this ordeal again, the insinuations, the accusations, the confrontations she had to face during the first trial,” she explained, adding that her client did not want to impose a new trial on the victim.