A loud sigh of displeasure echoed through the full "Voltaire" courtroom in Avignon's Palace of Justice when the leading judge in crimson robes announced the unexpected but inevitable postponement of the trial that is haunting France.
"He is sick," said Roger Arata, the presiding judge, hinting that this extraordinary case against 51 alleged rapists could be postponed for "a day, two, three" or maybe even longer, as it was revealed that Dominique Pellico was too ill to would attend it.
His lawyer later said that he was taken to the hospital.
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On the right side of the courtroom, her head leaning slightly against the wood-paneled wall, Giselle Pelliceau showed no visible emotion at the news that, after all, she would not be attending her husband's testimony that day.
It was last week Giselle Pellicot (72) told the trial that her calm exterior hides a "devastated field" created when, four years ago, a French policeman informed her that her seemingly caring husband had in fact been drugging her for a decade and inviting strangers, more than 80 local men, to enter their family home and bedroom to rape her while he films them.
She waived her right to anonymity to highlight the danger to women of being drugged and sexually assaulted - known as "chemical subjugation".
It takes just over half an hour's drive from the courthouse in Avignon to the quiet, medieval village of Mazan, through rolling hills and vineyards that surround the moon-like expanses of Mont Vantu.
The village was once briefly famous for the wedding of British actress Keira Knightley.
That's where the Pelikos lived, and that's where Dominik Peliko filmed local men whom he contacted via the Internet.
It is always difficult to convey the mood in any place, at any time.
"Honestly, nobody here cares," said local catering owner Evan Tuvinjon, as he leaned against the counter of his shop, suggesting that the whole case was already over their heads.
But several women told us that the village is not only in shock, but that new revelations in court have led to new tensions in Mazan and surrounding villages.
The names of the accused have recently been widely shared on social networks, and some of these men have meanwhile complained to the court that they, their families and their children have now become victims of harassment on the street and in schools.
Two local women, who were loading things into a car in a narrow alley in Mazan, said they saw those names and recognized at least three of them.
“It creates tension, as you can imagine. You don't know who you can trust on the street.
"I feel relieved when I know that I will soon be moving out of this village," says 25-year-old Osean Martin.
But next to her, Osean's twice older mother, Izabel Liversan, mentioned another, deeper reason for concern.
It has been revealed that although the police have already identified and taken into custody 50 men whose images were stored on Dominic Pelico's hard drive, a further 30 suspects, unnamed and undetected, are at large.
"So we know that 30 of the 80 have not yet been caught. There is tension here because people don't know if they can trust their neighbors.
"You just wonder - is he one of those 30? What is your neighbor doing behind closed doors?" said Karolin Martin in a sharp voice.
But the 74-year-old mayor of Mazan, Lui Bone, tried to downplay the tensions, claiming that most of the alleged rapists came from other villages and portraying the Pelikos as outsiders who had not lived there long.
He went further than that, saying that the threats against the accused and their families were expected.
"If they participated in those rapes, then it is normal that they are considered targets. There must be transparency regarding everything that happened," he said, simultaneously condemning the accused and their actions.
In the interview he gave us, Bone spoke about the case itself and along the way leaned towards those views that have already caused outrage in France, just like his deep respect for the courage of Gisele Peliko in facing them.
"People here say: 'At least no one was killed.' It would have been much worse if Peliko had killed the woman. But that didn't happen in this case," said Bone.
Then he moved on to the experiences of Žizel Peliko.
"She's going to have trouble getting back on her feet, that's for sure," he agreed, but suggested her rapes were less problematic than another victim in nearby Carpentras who was "conscious when she was raped ... and will carry a long physical and mental trauma, which is even more serious."
"When children are involved, or when a woman is killed, it is very serious, because there is no going back. In this case, the family will have to rebuild itself. It's going to be hard, but they're not dead, which means they can still do it."
When I suggested that he was trying to play down the gravity of the Peliko case, he agreed with me.
"Yes, I do that. What happened is very serious.
"But I will not say that the village has to carry on its shoulders the memory of a crime that goes beyond what is considered acceptable," he said.
His wording seemed clumsy.
He condemned the case. He did not want his village to be marked by him forever, but it also seemed to lessen the trauma of Gisele Pellicot.
I confronted him about it once again.
Many women feel that this case has exposed a certain type of male behavior that needs to change, I said.
"We can always strive to change attitudes and we should do so. But in reality there is no magic formula.
"People who behaved like this are impossible to understand and they must not justify themselves or understand, but it still exists," replied Bone.
Inside the courtroom in Avignon, some of the accused, eighteen of whom are now in custody, sat in a special compartment separated by a glass partition and watched the proceedings.
A white man with gray curly hair was stroking his beard.
Not far from him, a young black man appeared to be dozing.
Before that, a dozen of their fellow defendants, who are not in custody, were pressing themselves next to journalists in a long line in front of the courtroom.
Most of the men tried to hide their faces with masks, but a few did not.
The larger man moved slowly forward on crutches.
Someone pulled a green hood over his face.
French law offers defendants some protection from being identified in the media, but Gisele Pellicot waived her own right to privacy, choosing to become a symbol of defiance for many French women.
"She showed enormous dignity, courage and humanity. It is a huge gift for French women that she decided to speak to the whole world in front of her rapists.
"They said she was broken, but she was very inspirational," said Blandine Deverlange, a local activist who attended the trial today.
She and her colleagues recently painted slogans on the walls around Avignon.
"Ordinary men. Terrible crimes" - is one of them.
Sitting next to her mother, Peliko's daughter Karolina (45) did not hide her emotions.
She was recently shown evidence that her father had photographed her without her knowledge or permission.
She believes he also drugged her and has become an activist on the rape and drug issue that many experts believe is vastly under-reported and under-researched in France.
Occasionally, during the trial, Karolina would frown or raise her hand to her face in apparent displeasure or disgust, when various defense attorneys objected or discussed procedural issues.
The policeman began his testimony, speaking with a distinct southern French accent.
Bright sunlight streamed through the skylight above the judges' heads.
The atmosphere in the elegantly decorated courtroom was calm, but it still seemed shocking to see a family - mother, daughter and at least two sons - sitting just a few meters away from so many alleged rapists, whose masks have now been removed.
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