A French court on Thursday sentenced Gisèle Pelicot's ex-husband to the maximum term of 20 years jail for committing and orchestrating the mass rapes targeting her with dozens of strangers he recruited online.
Dominique Pelicot, who had already confessed to the crimes, was earlier found guilty by the court in the southern city of Avignon after an over three-month trial that shocked France and turned his former wife Gisèle Pelicot into a feminist hero.
Including Dominique Pelicot, all 51 defendants in the case were convicted by the court with no acquittals.
The historic case has profoundly shaken the country over the past several months.
Dominique Pelicot, 72, has admitted that for years he knocked his wife of 50 years out with drugs so he and strangers he recruited online could abuse her while he filmed the assaults.
The appalling ordeal inflicted over nearly a decade on Gisèle Pelicot in what she thought was a loving marriage and her courage during the bruising and stunning trial have transformed the retired power company worker into a feminist hero of the nation.
On Thursday she said she respected the verdict, after some voiced objections that the sentences were too lenient.
Ex-husband in French rape trial asks 'forgiveness' from family
Calls for tougher measures
Stretching over more than three months, the trial galvanised campaigners against sexual violence and spurred calls for tougher measures to stamp out rape culture.
The 51 men were all accused of having taken part in Dominique Pelicot's sordid rape and abuse fantasies that were acted out in the couple's retirement home in the small Provence town of Mazan and elsewhere.
Dominique Pelicot testified that he hid tranquilisers in food and drink that he gave his then wife, knocking her out so profoundly that he could do what he wanted to her for hours.
One of the men was on trial not for assaulting Gisèle Pelicot but for drugging and raping his own wife – with the help and drugs from Dominique Pelicot, who was also tried for raping the other man's wife.
Mass rape trial sparks demonstrations across France
Secret ballot voting
The five judges were voting by secret ballot in their rulings, with a majority vote required to convict.
Campaigners against sexual violence are hoping for exemplary prison terms and view the trial as a possible turning point in the fight against rape culture and the use of drugs to subdue victims.
Gisèle Pelicot's courage in waiving her right to anonymity as a survivor of sexual abuse and successfully pushing for the hearings and shocking evidence – including videos – to be heard in open court have fueled conversations both on a national level in France and among families, couples and groups of friends about how to better protect women and the role that men can play in pursuing that goal.
“Men are starting to talk to women – their girlfriends, mothers and friends – in ways they hadn’t before,” said Fanny Foures, 48, who joined other women from the feminist group Les Amazones in gluing messages of support for Gisèle Pelicot on walls around Avignon before the verdict.
“It was awkward at first, but now real dialogues are happening," she said.
“Some women are realising, maybe for the first time, that their ex-husbands violated them, or that someone close to them committed abuse,” Foures added. “And men are starting to reckon with their own behavior or complicity – things they’ve ignored or failed to act on. It’s heavy, but it’s creating change.”
A large banner that campaigners hung on a city wall opposite the courthouse read, “MERCI GISELE” – thank you Gisèle.
French justice minister favours adding consent to legal definition of rape
Library of images
Dominique Pelicot first came to the attention of police in September 2020, when a supermarket security guard caught him surreptitiously filming up women’s skirts.
Police subsequently found his library of homemade images documenting years of abuse inflicted on his wife – more than 20,000 photos and videos in all, stored on computer drives and catalogued in folders marked “abuse,” “her rapists,” “night alone” and other titles.
The abundance of evidence led police to the other defendants. In the videos, investigators counted 72 different abusers, but weren't able to identify them all.
Although some of the accused – including Dominique Pelicot – acknowledged that they were guilty of rape, many didn't, even in the face of video evidence. The hearings sparked wider debate in France about whether the country’s legal definition of rape should be expanded to include specific mention of consent.
Some defendants argued that Dominique Pelicot’s consent covered his wife, too. Some sought to excuse their behavior by insisting that they hadn’t intended to rape anyone when they responded to the husband’s invitations to come to their home. Some laid blame at his door, saying he misled them into thinking they were taking part in consensual kink.
(with AFP, AP)
