French rape trial mayor in hiding after sickening five-word statement about horror case

The mayor of Mazan in southern France, Louis Bonnet, sparked outrage after saying the crimes of Dominique Pélicot should not be taken out of proportion - because ‘after all, no one died’

The mayor of the French town at the centre of a notorious mass rape trial has gone into hiding after saying "after all, no one died".

Louis Bonnet has filed a legal complaint and is now laying low after sparking outrage in a BBC interview, when he said the crimes of Dominique Pélicot should not be taken out of proportion. This is despite the 71-year-old admitting to regularly drugging his wife, Gisèle Pélicot, now 72, and allowing scores of men into their Avignon home to rape her over a 10-year period.

Gisele, a mum-of-three and grandmother-of-seven, bravely waived her right to anonymity and has been publicly detailing the horrific betrayal her partner of 50 years had subjected her to from 2011 and 2020.

Mr Bonnet has now fled to the south of France, at an unknown address far away from Mazan, under the protection of police officers.

The 74-year-old, who was elected Mayor of Mazan in 2020, said on Friday: "I've been threatened, I've been insulted. The last thing I had to file a complaint about was someone asking the town hall for my address so that they could raid my home with a gang."

Mr Bonnet said he had also been receiving threats on social media, and by phone, since the interview earlier this month. He told reporters "after all, no one died", apparently expressing relaxed views about rape that are widespread in France, especially among older men.

He said: "The bottom line is that at some point when our village is seen as a breeding ground for rapists, people have to speak out. If there was a slip-up with Mr and Mrs Pelicot, it does not represent the whole village." But he later took to Facebook apologising, saying he regretted what he said.

Stéphane Claudon, an opposition councillor in Mazan, said Mr Bonnet’s conduct was typical of ongoing sleaze in the town. "There are too many things piling up," he said, pointing to the case of another elected official who was still in office, despite being found guilty of assaulting a child three years ago.

Two local police officers have also filed a legal complaint against Mr Bonnet, saying they were illegally filmed while working in the Mayor’s office.

Dominique Pélicot was caught after being arrested in 2020 for taking upskirt photos in a supermarket. Gisele had accompanied him to the police station, standing up for him as a thoughtful "nice guy". But the court heard it was at that police station in November 2020, a lieutenant slid a photograph across the table and asked her "Is this your room?". That shocking photograph was Gisele, in her own bedroom, with a man she did not know. A second photograph was produced. The 71-year-old grandmother told the court: "I'm being raped. The trauma is enormous, I want to go home."

Pélicot sex ring involved advertising on a site for swinger ‘partners’ on an online forum called ‘Without Her Knowing’ on the coco.fr site. Of the 83 men involved, 51 aged between 26 and 73 were identified and arrested by the police. Pélicot is said to have sedated his wife by putting Temesta – a powerful anxiolytic – into her evening dinner. Alleged rapists involved in the case include civil servants, ambulance workers, soldiers, prison guards, nurses, a municipal councillor, and truck drivers.

In a separate case, Pélicot has been charged with raping and murdering a 23-year-old estate agent in Paris in 1991. He has admitted one attempted rape in 1999, after DNA testing proved a case against him. The Avignon aggravated rape case is due to last until December 21. Fourteen of the other defendants have also admitted rape, while the rest deny any wrongdoing.