French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday “thank you” to Gisèle Pélicot for her “courage”, seeing in her a “scout” for women the day after her ex-husband was sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping her and raped by dozens of strangers.
“Thank you Gisèle Pélicot. For this word of justice in the name of which you faced the ordeal with your head held high,” said Mr. Macron on the president, also thanking her “for women, who forever have a scout to speak and fight.”
The French political class had already unanimously welcomed on Thursday the “courage” of Gisèle Pelicot after the verdict rendered by the criminal court of Avignon in the south-east of France following a trial with worldwide repercussions.
Ms. Pélicot, 72, has become a true feminist icon since her decision to refuse closed doors at the opening of this extraordinary trial.
In addition to her ex-husband, Dominique Pélicot, 72, the court declared all 50 of her co-defendants guilty, closing four months of a trial that became a symbol of violence against women.
The main convict was on trial for having doused his wife with anxiolytics for a decade, to make her his sexual object and deliver her to dozens of men recruited on the internet.
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