Gisèle Pelicot’s ex-husband has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for drugging and raping her and inviting scores of strangers to harm her over the course of over a decade.
Dominique Pelicot, 72, was found guilty of all charges by a judge in Avignon, southern France, and cried in court after being sentenced to the maximum period.
He was on trial with 50 other men, all of whom were found guilty of at least one felony, albeit with shorter jail terms than prosecutors had requested.
Ms Pelicot and her children remained stoic while the judgments were read, occasionally looking at the accused and laying their heads against the wall.
The convictions marked the end of France’s largest rape trial in history, which had horrified the country and the world over the course of three months.
On Thursday morning, police closed the road opposite the courtroom to accommodate hundreds of people who came to show their support for Ms Pelicot.
A huge banner stating “Thank you Gisèle” was displayed on a wall facing the entrance.
Several members of the public chanted “rapist, we see you” as defendants arrived ahead of the trial.
Following the judgments, Ms Pelicot stated that the trial had been a “very difficult ordeal” outside of court.
Her grandson, who is in his late teens, stood beside her for the first time, his arm around her shoulder, while she addressed the media.
Her voice wavered only once as she stated that she “never regretted” her choice to make the trial public “so society could see what was happening”.
The 72-year-old’s choice to forego her automatic right to confidentiality was quite exceptional.
She was present practically every day of the trial, appearing in the same courtroom as her husband of 50 years, whom she has now divorced.
The case was closely covered by the French and global media, with hundreds of journalists in court on Thursday.
As Ms Pelicot spoke, hundreds of people yelled her name and sang feminist music.
She expressed “profound” gratitude to her supporters and expressed “confidence” in a “better future” in which men and women may live in “mutual respect”.
Ms Pelicot’s ex-husband Dominique Pelicot – who had already confessed to his crimes – was found guilty of aggravated rape.
He was also found guilty of attempting aggravated rape against the wife of one of his co-accused, Jean-Pierre Maréchal.
Maréchal, who was described as Dominique’s “disciple” since he drugged and raped his own wife for years and invited Dominique to do the same, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Dominique Pelicot was also found guilty of taking obscene photographs of his daughter, Caroline Darian, and his daughters-in-law, Aurore and Celine.
Caroline, who appeared in court on Thursday, previously stated during the trial that she believed she was the “forgotten victim” because, unlike her mother’s case, there was no documentation of the abuse she believes she was subjected to.
Dominique denied drugging or abusing his daughter.
“I will never come see you and you will die alone like a dog,” she shouted at him in court in November.
Following the verdicts, Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer stated that her client was “somewhat dazed” by his punishment and would explore appealing. He has ten days to determine whether to do so.
Dominique Pelicot was accused alongside 50 other men, 46 of whom were convicted of rape, two of attempted rape, and two of sexual assault.
Several of them have already spent years in jail after being caught during police’s initial probe in 2021, and they will be released pretty shortly.
Most of the guys on trial disputed that they had committed rape.
They claimed they did not realise Ms Pelicot was unconscious and thus did not “know” they were raping her. It is an argument that has generated a national debate concerning France’s legal definition of rape.
The defendants’ sentence terms range from three to fifteen years.
In a statement to AFP news agency, the Pelicot children said they were “disappointed” by the “low sentences”.
Dominique Pelicot drugged and raped his now-ex-wife for nearly a decade starting in 2011, recruiting dozens of guys online to have sex with her while she was unconscious.
His misdeeds were revealed in 2020, when police detained him on a separate case of filming up women’s skirts in a store.
Police seized his equipment and discovered thousands of films on his laptop, including evidence of approximately 200 rapes.
Investigators utilized the footage to find his co-accused, but they were unable to identify the other 21 males.
Dominique Pelicot admitted the charges in 2020.
The trial spurred debate about whether the concept of permission should be included in France’s legal definition of rape, as it has in other European countries.
Rape in France is now defined as “any act of sexual penetration committed against another person by violence, constraint, threat, or surprise,” which means that prosecutors must prove intent to rape.
Many of the defendants said they were “tricked” by Dominique Pelicot and thought they were heading to the couple’s house for a threesome in which the woman would be asleep.
The trial also shed light on the topic of chemical submission, or drug-induced sexual assault.
The majority of the 50 men came from cities and villages within a 50-kilometre (30-mile) radius of the Pelicots’ native village of Mazan.
They included firefighters, truck drivers, soldiers, a journalist, and a DJ, and were described as “ordinary people” by defence counsel, garnering them the nickname Monsieur-Tout-Le-Monde (Mr Everyman).
The trial also brought sexual assault against women to the forefront in France, with many commending Ms Pelicot for her bravery in making the matter public.
She earlier stated that she was determined to “shame change sides” from victim to rapist. Her fans have repeatedly used this statement.
But Ms Pelicot has been clear that behind her mask of strength “lies a field of ruins,” and despite overwhelming praise for her efforts, she is a reluctant hero.
“She keeps saying, ‘I am normal’ – she doesn’t want to be considered an icon,” her lawyer, Stéphane Babonneau, told the BBC.
“Women generally have strength that they cannot imagine, and they must trust themselves. “That is her message.”
