Gisèle Pelicot’s ex-husband and dozens of others found guilty in rape and drug addiction trial in France

A French judge declared on Thursday that the ex-husband of Gisèle Pelicot, who accepted until drugging and raping her repeatedly over almost a decade and inviting dozens of other men to also attack her, guilty of aggravated rape. He was given the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

During the course of the trial, Pelicot, who insisted that his full name be published and that the court the procedures are made public — has been praised for her bravery and has become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France and around the world.

“I want to express my deep gratitude to all the people who supported me during this difficult time. Their testimony, their statements, have really moved me and have given me the strength to return every day during these long days of the trial,” Pelicot told reporters outside court Thursday.

“I wanted to open the doors of this trial last September so that society could see what was happening. I will never regret this decision. I am confident in our ability, collectively, to find a better future, in which men and women “Women alike can live together without causing harm and with mutual respect,” she said.

Roger Arata, chief judge at the court in Avignon, southeastern France, also read the verdicts of 49 other men accused of raping Pelicot alongside her ex-husband, at his invitation, and another accused of aggravated sexual assault. All of the men were found guilty, but one had his sentence reduced from rape to sexual assault. All received sentences of between three and 15 years, and two of the sentences were suspended.

“The children are disappointed by these low sentences,” one of Pelicot’s relatives, who asked not to be identified, told the French news agency AFP.

Pelicot was greeted upon her arrival at the courthouse Thursday by a crowd holding signs with slogans such as: “Thank you for your bravery.” She and her daughters sat in the courtroom as the verdicts were read, leaning their heads against a wall, BBC News, CBS News’ sister network, reported.

The trial began on September 2, and almost every day, Pelicot came face to face with her. ex husbandDominique or one of the other 50 men accused of assaulting her. She insisted that videos presented as evidence, made by her ex-husband and showing men assaulting her while she appeared unconscious, be shown in court.

Dominique Pelicot was also found guilty of attempted aggravated rape of a woman called Cillia, the wife of another man, Jean Pierre Marechal, who was one of the co-accused, as well as making indecent images of his daughter Caroline and his daughters-in-law, Celine and Aurore, BBC News reported. Sitting in court, he showed no emotion as the verdicts were read, according to the BBC. Following the verdict and sentencing, his lawyer said he would have ten days to file an appeal, which he was considering.

The attacks took place between 2011 and 2020, when Dominique Pelicot was arrested. Police found thousands of photographs and videos of the abuse on his computer drives, which helped track down other suspects. Some of the men told the court they believed the unconscious woman agreed or that her husband’s permission was sufficient.

“It is not our place to feel shame, but theirs,” Pelicot declared during the trial, referring to the attackers. “Above all, I express my will and determination to change this society.”

Pelicot continued to attend hearings throughout the trial, in part because “he felt that in some way he was representing the victims of this type of abuse,” his lawyer, Stéphane Babonneau, said before the verdicts were handed down Thursday. “There are so many victims who go to trial, facing their attackers without anyone being outside, lining up for them, offering them flowers. So she felt like she had to continue staying focused, because she didn’t choose, but she felt that in some way she represented the victims and felt responsible for it.

The controversial French laws

The Pelicot case sparked protests across France, with some protesters hoping the case could lead to changes to controversial French laws governing sexual consent.

France introduced a legal age of sexual consent in 2021 after a public outcry over the rape of an 11-year-old schoolgirl by a man who was initially convicted of a minor charge. Since then, sexual relations with anyone under 15 have been considered non-consensual, but French law makes no reference to consent in cases involving older victims.

Under French law, rape is defined as penetration or oral sex using “violence, coercion, threat or surprise” without regard to consent, according to the Reuters news agency. Prosecutors must therefore prove intent to rape if they want to succeed in court, legal experts told Reuters.

According to a study by the Public Policy Institute, only 14% of rape accusations in France lead to formal investigations.

“Why are we not able to get convictions? The first reason is the law,” French legal expert Catherine Le Magueresse told Reuters. “The law is written in such a way that victims must meet the stereotype of a ‘good victim’ and a ‘true rape’: an unknown attacker, the use of violence and the resistance of the victim. But this is only true for a minority of violations.”

“I’m trying to understand”

Speaking in court during the trial, Pelicot, 72, spoke of how she had thought she was in a loving marriage with her husband and would never have guessed what was happening.

“We had a glass of white wine together. I never found anything strange in my potatoes,” Pelicot told the court. “We finished eating. Often, when a football game was on TV, I would let him watch it alone. He would bring my ice cream to my bed, where I was. My favorite flavor, raspberry, and I thought: ‘How lucky I am!’ !’ I am. He is a sweetheart.”

She said she didn’t have any sensation of being drugged.

“I never felt my heart beat. I didn’t feel anything. I must have gone down very quickly. I would wake up with my pajamas on,” Pelicot told the court, adding that she sometimes woke up “more tired than usual.” , but I walk a lot and I thought that was it

“I’m trying to understand,” she said, “how this husband, who was the perfect man, could have come to this.”

“Nothing will give him back the 15 years he lost, the 10 years he lived without knowing what was happening to him,” Pelicot’s lawyer, Stéphane Babonneau, said before Thursday’s verdicts. “The only thing she can hope for now is for justice to be done and then, well, who could find comfort in someone going to prison for 10 or 15 years and seeing another family destroyed? Nobody, and, in fact, definitely not her. “

Frank Andrews contributed to this report.