International

The man who imitated Pelicot admits to having drugged and raped his wife

Jean-Pierre Maréchal, the man who sits on the bench in Avignon for having raped his wife and done it with Dominique Pelicot, whom he imitated in the procedure of subjecting her to a chemical submission, recognizes his full responsibility in the facts.

His lawyer, Patrick Gontard, insisted on Thursday that Maréchal has not tried to evade his responsibility, as shown by the fact that since he was arrested in 2020 he said that he “deserved the maximum, life imprisonment,” despite the fact that the crime of aggravated rape for which he is accused has a maximum penalty of 20 years.

In statements to the press before the hearing in the Criminal Court of Vaucluse (southeast of France), Gontard insisted on the role of “catalyst” that Dominique Pelicot had so that Maréchal, following his instructions, drugged his wife with anxiolytics so that, once in a state of unconsciousness, both men raped her.

The lawyer pointed out that Pelicot, with whom he had established contact through an online messaging and who proposed to resorting to chemical submission as he had been doing for years with his own wife, was for him like “a dynamite cartridge that blew everything up.”

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According to his story, he provided her with the medicines and recommended the dosage to administer them with the aim that her partner would lose consciousness and they could abuse her.

The wife maintains the relationship

The lawyer has also pointed out that Pelicot was seven or eight times at his client’s house and the violations were carried out on three of those occasions.

In one of those visits, the woman woke up unexpectedly and surprised the stranger next to her in her room.

The explanations that her husband gave her then, that she had brought him to see her in underwear, did not convince her.

Despite everything, she did not report it even when the case was uncovered, in September 2020.

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In her statement this Wednesday before the court, the one who is still Maréchal’s wife explained that she did not denounce him for her children, who have seen their lives upset by these events, and because during their common life he had been “a wonderful man.”

He also acknowledged that he wanted to maintain contact with him, with whom he communicates through his children, and that he even requested to be able to see him in prison so that he would tell him “to his face” what he had done to him.

The psychological exam of the accused

Along with Maréchal and Pelicot, there are 49 others prosecuted in this process for having raped the latter’s wife when she was under the effects of anxiolytics.

Gontard indirectly criticized the defense strategy of most of them, those who deny having known that Gisèle Pelicot was unconscious, by recalling that in French criminal law there is rape from the moment consent is not given to have a sexual relationship.

The lawyer admitted that the relationship with Pelicot was not the only trigger for his client’s criminal behavior, and alluded to several other elements of his life and psychology that could intervene, such as the fact that “he had almost no sex life with his wife” and was “very interested in sex” and to be born into a family marked by the sexual abuse of a violent father.

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This and other issues were addressed this Thursday at the hearing by the expert Annabelle Montagne, appointed by the justice for the psychological examination of Maréchal and other defendants.

The big unknown is whether the process will be able to continue next week, due to Pelicot’s absence since Tuesday due to illness. At the outset, there are many chances that Friday’s session will be suspended.

This situation has tensed the atmosphere between lawyers who, such as Pelicot and Maréchal’s, opt for a suspension.

The president of the Court, who has so far tried to maintain the program, has acknowledged today that if the main defendant could not appear from Monday it would be “a catastrophe.”

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International

Dominican court postpones hearing in deadly nightclub collapse case

10 reported dead after explosion in Dominican Republic

A Dominican court on Monday postponed until March a preliminary hearing against the owners of a nightclub that collapsed last year, killing more than 200 people.

The roof of the Jet Set nightclub collapsed in the early hours of April 8, 2025, during a concert by popular merengue singer Rubby Pérez, who died along with 235 other people.

Jet Set owner and manager Antonio Espaillat and his sister Maribel, who served as the club’s administrator, were arrested on charges of involuntary manslaughter but were later released on bail after posting approximately $842,500.

Both appeared at the Palace of Justice, where they were met by a small protest from relatives and friends of the victims.

“Thirty years in prison is not enough” and “President, we want JUSTICE,” read signs held by demonstrators.

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The preliminary hearing determines whether there is sufficient evidence to send the case to trial. The court decided to reschedule the hearing for March 16.

“We don’t want money and we’re not demanding anything else, only justice for those who died,” said Secundino Pérez, a 75-year-old shopkeeper who lost 12 friends in the Jet Set tragedy.

“Antonio and his family celebrated Christmas sitting at a table, celebrating their freedom,” said Edgar Gómez, who lost his daughter in the collapse.

The Dominican Republic’s Public Prosecutor’s Office maintains that the defendants “significantly altered” the structure of the nightclub. Prosecutors filed formal charges in November and requested that the case proceed to trial.

The charge of involuntary manslaughter carries a sentence of three months to two years in prison.

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“May your conscience never let you sleep. I lost my son,” a woman shouted through tears before the hearing, while others chanted, “Murderers, murderers, murderers.”

International

Venezuelan opposition leader dedicates Nobel Prize to Trump

U.S. President Donald Trump said last week that he was “eager” to welcome the opposition leader, who left Venezuela clandestinely with U.S. assistance, to receive her Nobel Prize in Oslo.

Machado dedicated her Nobel Prize to Trump, who nevertheless showed a very cautious attitude toward including her in any potential political transition in Venezuela.

The opposition leader said on Monday, after an audience with Pope Leo XIV, that “the defeat of evil is closer” in Venezuela following the U.S. military operation that overthrew and removed President Nicolás Maduro and his wife from the country.

Trump has claimed that he is now in control of the South American nation, stating that the primary objective at this stage is to stabilize the country before considering elections.

Venezuelan oil is Washington’s main objective, Trump added after Maduro’s overthrow.

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International

Police hunt gunmen after fatal shooting in Corsica

A man was shot dead on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, local media reported. The victim was identified as Alain Orsoni, former president of local football club AC Ajaccio, according to sources close to the investigation cited by French news channel BFMTV.

Orsoni, 71, was killed in the town of Vero, near Ajaccio, the island’s capital, while attending his mother’s funeral.

He was also a former member of the National Liberation Front of Corsica (FLNC), a nationalist organization that has long sought independence for the island, reports said.

BFMTV reported that the gunmen fled the scene and remain at large. Local police have opened an investigation into the shooting.