As per inputs from various agencies, her husband was convicted of aggravated rape and sentenced to 20 years in prison—the maximum penalty
The other 50 men, aged between 26 and 74, were also found guilty of rape, attempted rape, or sexual assault, with sentences of up to 20 years
Dominique Pelicot-then husband of sexually assaulted lady Gisele Pelicot-was found guilty by a French court of five judges on Thursday (Dec 19) of drugging her and inviting others for heinously mass rape.
Seventy-Two years old, Gisèle Pelicot said that after 51 men were all found guilty in the drugging-and-rape trial has now turned her into a feminist hero. The ordeal had been “very difficult”, and now she expressed support for other victims of sexual violence.
“We share the same fight,” she said in her first words after the court in the southern French city of Avignon handed down prison sentences ranging from three to 20 years. This was the shocking case that stunned France and spurred a national reckoning about the blight of rape culture.
Gisele Pelicot — whose courage and stoicism have turned her into an internationally recognized figure and an icon for many women — said she was thinking of her grandchildren after enduring more than three months of court hearings that dealt with the nearly decade of rapes and other abuse inflicted on her by her now ex-husband and his accomplices.
“It’s also for them that I led this fight,” she said of her grandchildren.
The court sentenced her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, to 20 years in prison for drugging and raping her and allowing other men to rape her while she was unconscious.
The sentence was the maximum possible under French law. He was declared guilty of all charges against him. At age 72, it could mean that he spends the rest of his life in prison. He won’t be eligible to ask for early release until at least two-thirds of the sentence has been served.
Roger Arata, the lead judge of the court in the southern French city Avignon, told Pelicot to stand for the sentencing. After it was delivered, he sat back down and cried.
The 72-year-old man has been handed the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for his charges. He had been accused of repeatedly raping and enlisting strangers to abuse his heavily sedated wife for over a decade.
Pelicot was also found guilty of the attempted aggravated rape of the wife of one of the co-accused, Jean Pierre Marechal, Cillia, and taking indecent images of his daughter, Caroline, and his daughters-in-law, Aurore and Celine.As the verdict was announced, Dominique bent down and started crying in court.
Apart from Dominique, all 50 other men have also been found guilty of the charges against them, including some who pleaded not guilty. However, some of them were given shorter sentence periods than what was asked by the prosecutors.
For instance, Jacques C. has been awarded a 5-year suspended prison sentence, allowing him to walk free today itself. As the judges read out the judgment, some gasps could be heard inside the courtroom.
Cyrille D, Lionel R and Boris M were given just eight years behind bars, although the prosecutors had asked for a 12-year jail term. Another defendant, named Redouan A. was found guilty, but the judge reduced his sentence owing to his diagnosis as schizophrenic.
At least five of the accused won’t be sent to prison immediately owing to their bad health. “Several of the convicted men will not be taken to prison immediately because of their health. A few more days of freedom while we find a suitable prison,” Presiding Judge Roger Arata said.
On the other hand, some of the accused were given harsher sentences spanning over a decade. Romain V., who visited the Pelicot house six times, was awarded a 15-year prison sentence. Charly A., who also visited six times, was given 13 years.
Accused man, a father of three, admits to sexual assault of Gisele Pelicot. Pelicot, who accused her husband of organizing a mass rape over a decade, was also appeared in the court.
French mass rape trial: A man in his 40s has admitted to raping Gisele Pelicot, as part of the mass rape organized by her husband over a decade in their southern France bedroom. The man said he did not seek consent or ask too many questions of the husband, Dominique Pelicot, who had admitted to drugging his then-wife and asking strangers he met online to rape her.
Another of the 50 men who are alleged to have taken part in the years-long drugging and raping of French woman Gisele Pelicot has admitted to his guilt, saying he was “part of this nightmare.” The man, identified in court documents as 44-year-old Lionel R, was speaking at the trial on this a macabre case that shocked France. Apologizing to Pelicot, he said in court on Thursday (Sep 19): “I have no choice but to accept the facts.”
Between 2011 and 2020, Pelicot was drugged by her now-former husband Dominique Pelicot into a ‘deep coma’ state. He then invited men to rape her in her bedroom in southern France. The accused, 50 men in total, are aged 26 to 74 and include a fireman, jailor, nurse and journalist.
Dominique Pelicot had earlier admitted to connecting with strangers on online chatrooms and inviting them to rape her. He told the court he was “a rapist”, while claiming that all the men knew they were raping his unconscious wife.
Gisèle Pelicot wanted an open trial to raise awareness on use of drugs in rape and sexual abuse. Hundreds of women came out in support of her outside the court where the trial was continuing.
While some of the accused told the court they were told the woman was drugged and unconscious, some others said they thought they were part of a sex game organized by the husband.
“Since I never obtained Mrs Pélicot’s consent, I have no choice but to accept the facts,” Lionel R, a fireman, told the court, admitting that he raped her on 2 December 2018. “I am sorry, I can only imagine the nightmare you’ve lived through … and I am part of this nightmare,” the father of three said, addressing Gisele.”I know my apologies won’t change what happened, but I wanted to tell you that. If I had known she wasn’t aware …I wouldn’t have gone there.”
“I should have checked that she was OK with it. I didn’t talk to her, so I could not get her consent. I feel guilty for what I did. “I never told myself: ‘I will rape that woman’,” he said while admitting he was guilty of rape.
Lionel said he didn’t ask too many questions, while there were mentions about medical drugs either taken by the woman herself, or administered by the then husband. “I never imagined that she might not be part of this game. That was my first huge error, he added.”
‘Drugged and raped for decades,’ Hundreds gather in support of Gisele Pelicot in France
French women rallied to support Gisele Pelicot. In the French capital, at the Place de la Republique dozens gathered with banners that read Support to Gisele, Shame Must Change Camp,” and “Victims We believe you”. Hundreds of people marched across France in solidarity with Gisele Pelicot-a woman whose husband is on charges of drugging her and recruiting dozens of strangers to rape her for over a decade.
Feminist associations called for nearly 30 gatherings in multiple cities across France, from Marseille to Paris. In the French capital, at the Place de la Republique dozens gathered with banners.
The case has shaken the whole nation, even the world, since the matter came out earlier this month. Pelicot, 72, has become a symbol of courage and resilience and of the fight against sexual violence. Her lawyers said that she was the one who decided to forgo a private trial and instead insisted on a public trial to alert the public to sexual abuse and drug-indicted blackouts.
Feminist Fatima Benomar from the “Coudes a Coudes” association told, “We thank her a thousand times for her enormous courage”, adding that the gatherings were also to pay tribute to all rape victims.
Pelicot’s lawyer Beatrice Zavarro told French media that he has admitted to his crimes. Some of the other defendants have admitted their guilt while others say they thought the wife had pretended to be asleep.
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