The ex-husband of Gisèle Pelicot, imprisoned for having raped her and drugged, now taken in other cases

Nanterre, France (AP) – Dominique Pélicot, the convicted rapist who horrified France by drowling his wife at the time so that other men could rape her, was questioned Thursday about other cases of rape and murder in which he suspected.

Pelicot purges a 20 -year prison sentence After being found guilty in December for the horrible sexual abuse of his ex-wife, Gisèle Pelicot.

His lawyer told the Associated Press that he was now confronted with a thank you renewed by a magistrate inquiry specializing in so -called cold affairs – those who have been particularly difficult to resolve.

Cases of rape and murder date back to the 1990s. One involved Sophie Narme, a real estate agent killed in Paris on December 4, 1991. His lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, said that Dominique Pélicot denies any involvement in murder.

The other is the attempted rape armed with another real estate agent in the suburbs of Paris in Villeparisis on May 11, 1999. In this case, Pelicot recognizes that he met the woman and tried to undress her but denies the attempt rape, said his lawyer.

Dominique Pelicot is under an official investigation for these two crimes since October 2022 – a legal status meaning that investigators think that there is an accumulation of serious evidence against him.

Victims’ lawyer claims that business is linked to several ways

Lawyer Florence Rault, who represents the Narme family and the woman subjected to the attempted rape, said that a range of similarities between the cases of 1991 and 1999 suggested that the aggressor could be the same.

“You have to remain cautious. Maybe someone else has committed crime on Sophie Narme. But there are such similarities in the operating mode, in the way the victims have been approached – and the victims are also so identical – that we can legitimately ask many questions, “said Rault on RTL Radio.

The two cases were grouped into a survey in September 2022 which was taken up by the specialized unit for cold cases and series crimes. It works in the suburbs of Paris in Nanterre.

Pelicot lawyer says things are different

Speaking on his way in the hearing of Dominique Pelicot with the investigating magistrate in the Nanterre Cold-Case unit, Zavarro said that his client was planning to cooperate. She noted that he had been interviewed before in 2023 and had admitted to having been in contact with the real estate agent in the 1999 case, but not with Narme.

“He always said that he had never met Sophie Narme,” said Zavarro, adding that Dominique Pelicot had recognized the investigators that he had met the other real estate agent. The lawyer said the police had found traces of his DNA at the scene of their meeting.

“He admitted to having had an altercation with her, having tried to undress her, but with different intentions of the rape attempt,” she said.

Pelicot lawyer sought to separate the current investigation from the abuse he inflicted on his then wife.

“Let us remember … He benefits from the presumption of innocence,” said Zavarro. “Let’s not make him a culprit in advance in advance.”

She described her conditions for isolation and said he had not authorized visitors since 2020.

“It is an isolation measure which has been imposed on him and with whom he lives every day. He does not complain – he knows that it was imposed on him according to the nature of the facts. »»

The cases predate the drug and rape of the old wife

Pelicot, 72, could spend the rest of his life behind bars. He will not be eligible to request an anticipated release before having served at least two thirds of his 20 -year sentence, which was the maximum possible for rapes and other crimes which he was sentenced.

Cases of rape and murder occurred more than 10 years before the drugs and rapes of Gisèle Pelicot for which Pelicot and 50 other men were condemned – a section of sexual abuse of almost decades of 2011. With drugs And invited other men, he met online to rape her.

Gisèle Pelicot has become a Hero a lot in France And beyond to have courageously demanding that the men’s trial be held in public hearing.

The evidence included homemade stomach videos of the abuse that Dominique Pelicot filmed in the couple’s retirement home in the small town of Mazan de Provence and elsewhere. The police then found more than 20,000 photos and videos in all, stored on computer journeys and cataloged in files marked “abuse”, “its rapists”, “Night Alone” and other titles.

__

John Leicester reported the PECQ, in France. Alex Turnbull contributed from Nanterre.