After a trial lasting more than three months which shocked France, on 19 December a court sentenced Dominique Pelicot to the maximum sentence of twenty years for the crime of aggravated rape for having organized the gang rape of his ex-wife Gisèle Pelicot with dozens of strangers recruited online.
Dominique Pelicot, who had already confessed, was found guilty by the court in the southern city of Avignon. “Mr Pelicot, you have been found guilty of aggravated rape of Gisèle Pelicot,” said the president of the Avignon criminal court, Roger Arata.
Dominique Pelicot, 72, admitted to having given drugs to Gisèle Pelicot for almost ten years in order to rape her together with strangers found online.
Gisèle Pelicot, 72, has become a symbol of feminist battles against rape culture and gender violence, for refusing to be tried behind closed doors and facing her attackers in court. “The shame must change sides,” Pelicot said to explain his decision to reveal himself to the press.
In addition to her ex-husband, fifty other men aged between 27 and 74 were put on trial, including one who did not abuse her, but raped his wife with the help of Dominique Pelicot.
On November 25, prosecutors requested the maximum sentence for Dominique Pelicot for aggravated rape. The prosecution asked for 10 to 18 years in prison for the 49 defendants also accused of aggravated rape. One of these defendants is on the run and has been tried in absentia.
Thirty-two of the accused are participating in the trial as free men, while the others, including Dominique Pelicot, have been placed in pre-trial detention.
On December 19, Gisèle Pelicot arrived at the court smiling to the applause of a crowd of supporters who were waiting for her outside and who chanted her name and slogans such as “Justice for Gisèle” and “Shame has changed sides”.
“Rape affects women all over the world, which is why the whole world has its eyes on what is about to happen,” said Ghislaine Sainte Catherine, of the feminist collective Amazons of Avignon.
The images of Gisèle Pelicot dominated the front pages of the main French newspapers on December 19th. “A verdict for the future,” wrote the newspaper Libération. “Merci madame,” wrote L’Humanité.
