A lawyer for one of the men charged in a mass rape trial in France pleaded for leniency on Tuesday, saying his client did not deserve the 14-year prison term demanded by the prosecution.
The 46-year-old defendant, a manual labourer identified only as Jean-Luc L., is among the dozens of strangers that the main defendant, Dominique Pelicot, admitted to having enlisted to rape his then-wife while she was drugged unconscious.
Prosecutors have called for a maximum 20-year jail term for the 72-year-old Dominique Pelicot, who has been on trial in the southern city of Avignon since September with 50 other men for organising the repeated rape and sexual abuse of Gisele Pelicot, now 71.
They have also sought jail terms of between 10 and 18 years for 49 of the 50 co-defendants, with a four-year punishment requested in only one case.
Jean-Luc L.'s lawyer, Jordan Preynet, told the court that his client, who is accused of participating in two rape sessions at the Pelicot home, had not even done "one-tenth of what Dominique Pelicot did" and should not be so harshly punished.
Jean-Luc L. stated shortly after his arrest that he was unaware that his actions amounted to rape, because he had been told by Dominique Pelicot what to do -- an argument that lead prosecutor Laure Chabaud last week rejected as one of consent by proxy "from another era".
His lawyer said that he had also, early on, admitted to rape and asked for forgiveness from the victim.
The lawyer pointed to the absence of any prior conviction for his client, adding that he was receiving both psychological and psychiatric treatment.
"You will pass judgment not just on a rapist in this case," the lawyer said, "you will pass judgment on the man that he was, and the man that he will be."
The lawyer said Jean-Luc L. returned to the Pelicot house for a second session out of fear that Dominique Pelicot might use the footage he filmed during the first time if he did not show up, and also because "he is weak and finds it hard to say no".
Charlotte Bres, who represents another of the accused men -- an IT worker identified only as Cedric G. -- argued that her client, too, did not deserve the 16-year jail term recommended by the prosecution.
Cedric G. had admitted rape, she said, but felt that Dominique Pelicot should shoulder most of the blame, calling him "the conductor" of the mass rapes.
Dominique Pelicot's decade-long abuse was only uncovered after he was arrested for filming up women's skirts in public.
The probe led investigators to his meticulously kept records of the visitors to the family home in the town of Mazan.
Their trial has sent shockwaves through France and made his ex-wife Gisele Pelicot a feminist icon in the fight against sexual abuse for insisting that the hearings be held in public.
Closing arguments in the case are scheduled to run to December 13, with a verdict expected on December 20.
