Gisèle Pelicot’s ex-husband found guilty in mass rape trial in France

A judge in France found on Thursday the ex-husband of Gisèle Pelicot, who admitted drugging and raping her repeatedly over nearly a decade and inviting dozens of other men to assault her as well, guilty of aggravated rape. During her trial, Pelicot – who insisted that her full name be published and the case is published — has been praised for her courage and has become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France and around the world. The judge on Thursday read out sentences for dozens of other men who are also accused of raping her.

Pelicot arrived at the court in Avignon, southeastern France, on Thursday, where crowds gathered outside holding signs saying: “Thank you for your courage.” She and her daughters sat in the courtroom as the verdicts were read, resting their heads against a wall, CBS News partner BBC News reported.

The trial began on September 2, and almost every day Pelicot was face to face with her former husbandDominique or one of the 49 other men accused of raping her. Another man is charged with aggravated sexual assault. She insisted that videos submitted as evidence, made by her ex-husband, showing men sexually assaulting her while she appeared to be unconscious, be shown in open court.

Dominique Pelicot was also found guilty of attempted aggravated rape of a woman named Cillia, the wife of another man, Jean Pierre Marechal, who was one of the co-accused, as well as having taken indecent photographs 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 out, according to the BBC.

The abuses took place between 2011 and 2020, when Dominique Pelicot was remanded in custody. Police found thousands of images and videos of the abuse on his computer drive, which helped lead them to other suspects. Some of the men testified that they thought the unconscious woman was okay with it, or that her husband’s permission was enough.

“Gisèle Pelicot believes that this shock wave is necessary so that no one can say after this: ‘I didn’t know it was rape,'” her lawyer, Stéphane Babonneau, told the Associated Press.

“It’s not for us to feel shame – it’s for them,” Pelicot said in court, referring to the attackers. “Above all, I express my will and determination to change this society.”

Controversial French laws

Pelicot’s case sparked protests across France, and there was hope among some protesters that the case could lead to changes in controversial French laws governing sexual consent.

France introduced a legal age of sexual consent in 2021 following a public outcry over the rape of an 11-year-old schoolgirl by a man initially convicted on a lesser charge. Since then, sex with people under the age of 15 has been considered non-consensual, but French law does not refer to consent in cases involving older victims.

According to French law, rape is defined as penetration or oral sex using “violence, coercion, threat or surprise”, without taking consent into account, according to the Reuters news agency. Prosecutors must therefore prove an intention to rape if they are to be successful in court, legal experts told Reuters.

Only 14% of rape allegations in France lead to formal investigations, according to a study by the Institute of Public Policies.

“Why do we fail to obtain convictions? The first reason is the law,” legal expert Catherine Le Magueresse told Reuters. “The law is written in such a way that victims must conform to the stereotype of a ‘good victim’ and a ‘true rape’: an unknown assailant, violence and victim resistance. But that only applies to a minority of rapes.”

“I’m trying to understand”

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

“We wanted to have a glass of white wine together. I have never found anything strange about my potatoes,” Pelicot told the court.

“We finished eating. Often when there’s a football game on TV, I let him watch it alone. He brought my ice cream to my bed where I was. My favorite flavor – raspberry – and I thought, “How lucky am I . He’s a love.'”

She said she had no sensation of being sedated.

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

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

Eye-opener: Update on possible motives in Wisconsin school shooting

2 Republicans voted to release ethics committee report on Matt Gaetz abuse, sources say

Texas man is fighting to be reunited with his family after he says they were unexpectedly deported