MADRID 25 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The French Government announced this Monday the launch of a pilot project for the State to assume the cost of tests to detect possible cases of chemical submission, a type of abuse that is particularly topical in France due to the trial against Dominique Pelicot for the abuses perpetrated on his wife for a decade.
This trial, in which the Prosecutor’s Office has requested 20 years in prison against Pelicot for facilitating his wife’s rape by other men for a decade, is destined to mark “a before and after” in the social conscience, in the words of the prime minister. Gallic, Michel Barnier, who has taken advantage of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women to launch a new initiative.
The Executive wants to “experiment” with a new program to make chemical submission detection tests “accessible and reimbursable.” This project will start in several departments, with a view to “improving care for possible victims,” Barnier explained, according to the BFM TV channel.
The French College of Physicians had already requested the generalization of these tests, which can reach a thousand euros. Currently, Social Security only takes care of the costs if there is a complaint involved, so experts believe the fact that the State assumes the cost more easily can make potential victims act and do so sooner.
The new measure comes when the trial for the violations suffered for years by Gisele Pelicot is now entering its final stretch, after more than two months of hearings. The Prosecutor’s Office has requested 20 years in prison against her ex-husband, the maximum sentence contemplated by the French Penal Code for crimes of rape, although more than fifty men also sit on the bench with him.