Gisèle Pelicot’s ex-husband was sentenced to a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for drugging and raping her, while also allowing other men to commit violence against the woman while she was unconscious. The sentence against Dominique Pelicot, 72, was issued by the Avignon court after the man was found guilty of all the charges against him. The violence lasted almost a decade. The chief judge of the Avignon court, Roger Arata, pronounced the verdicts one after another against Pelicot and 50 other defendants, finding them guilty “of aggravated rape” against Gisèle Pelicot. The woman sat on one side of the courtroom, facing the defendants, as Arata announced the guilty verdicts one after another.
Of the 50 accused of rape with Dominique Pelicot, all were convicted. Only one was not convicted of rape but of aggravated sexual assault. The sentences range from 3 years of imprisonment, of which 2 years on simple probation, to 20 years of imprisonment for Pelicot, the maximum sentence provided for by French law for this type of accusation. The Monster of Avignon was then convicted of committing and orchestrating the mass rapes against his wife. Dominique Pelicot sedated his wife Gisele with anxiolytics and then allowed dozens of men ‘recruited’ on the Internet to abuse her. The trial lasted over three months and shocked France and transformed Gisele Pelicot into a feminist heroine. As the sentences were read, Gisele looked at the defendants – including her husband – as they stood up and listened, but without any real reaction on her part or of his children: only a few whispers between them. But when the 20-year sentence was announced, the woman leaned her head against the wall, while Dominique Pelicot burst into tears, hunched over in his chair.
