The “face of courage”: the international press and foreign leaders greeted Gisèle Pelicot on Thursday after the sentencing of her ex-husband to 20 years of criminal imprisonment, for having raped her and having her raped by dozens of strangers in the southeast of France.
The 51 defendants were all found guilty on Thursday of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault, receiving sentences ranging from three years in prison, two of which were suspended, to 20 years of criminal imprisonment.
>> To find out more, read: Dominique Pelicot sentenced to maximum sentence of 20 years in prison
“Thank you Gisèle”
“What dignity. Thank you Gisèle Pelicot”, reacted on the social network years of very specific legislation, particularly on the notion of consent.
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The Spanish Minister for Equality, Ana Redondo, announced that a new reception center for women victims of gender-based violence in the region of Asturias (north) would bear the name of Gisèle Pelicot.
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“With courage, you emerged from anonymity to fight for justice. You gave a strong voice to women around the world. Shame is always on the side of the aggressor,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on x.
“Thank you”, displays the German daily Tageszeitung on the cover, next to Gisèle Pelicot’s face.
Worldwide coverage
The trial was covered by 180 media outlets, including 86 foreign ones. CNN, the New York Times, the BCC, the Guardian and the German channel Deutsche Welle followed the verdict live.
Gisèle Pelicot has become “the face of courage” for the New York Times which describes how her image became for the whole world the symbol of a “collective turning point”, compared to the demonstrator standing in front of the Tiananmen tanks in 1989 or to the “woman in red”, symbol of the protest movement of 2013 in Türkiye.
She is “a woman whose husband may have succeeded in destroying her life, but who did not succeed in destroying it,” and whose “image has “transcended the trial to become the catalyst for change.” says the American daily.
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