French mayor apologizes for claim that ‘no one died’ after gang rape trial

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The mayor of the French town where a man brought strangers to rape his wife for more than a decade apologized Friday for comments criticized for minimizing the victim’s ordeal.

Louis Bonnet, 74, mayor of Mazan in southern France, told BBC television in an interview that “after all, no one died” because of the gang rape for which dozens of men are on trial.

They are accused of having raped Gisèle Pelicot at the invitation of her husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, who had drugged her beforehand.

“It could have been much worse,” Bonnet told the BBC. “No children were involved. No women were killed.”

Bonnet’s remark sparked a storm of indignation on social media in France and beyond.

“People say I have minimized the seriousness of the heinous crimes the defendants are accused of,” Bonnet said in a statement posted on Facebook.

“I understand that people are shocked by these comments and I am truly sorry.”

The mayor said that his apologies were addressed “in particular to the women who were hurt by the clumsy remarks made under pressure in front of the microphone of a foreign media outlet.”

Mazan and its 6,000 residents have been under “constant media pressure” since the mass rape trial began this month, he said.

Dominique Pelicot admitted to drugging Gisèle Pelicot until she lost consciousness and inviting strangers to rape her.

She has become a feminist icon since she demanded a public trial.

The trial has horrified France, partly because among the co-defendants of Dominique Pelicot, 71, are seemingly ordinary men, such as a firefighter, a nurse and a journalist, many of whom have families.

Forty-nine co-defendants are accused of raping or attempting to rape Gisèle Pelicot, and one of them is accused of imitating Dominique Pelicot to sexually assault his own wife.