WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
A court in France on Thursday sentenced the ex-husband of Gisèle Pelicot to a maximum 20 years of imprisonment for drugging and raping her and allowing other men to rape her while she was knocked out, in abuse that lasted nearly a decade.
The sentence against Dominique Pelicot was declared after he was found guilty of all charges against him. At age 72, it could mean that he spends the rest of his life in prison.
The verdict was read by the lead judge of the court in Avignon, Roger Arata.
Arata read out verdicts one after the other against Pelicot and 50 other men, declaring “you are therefore declared guilty of aggravated rape on the person of Mme. Gisèle Pelicot” as he worked his way through the first names on the list.
Gisèle Pelicot was seated on one side of the courtroom, facing the defendants as Arata announced one guilty verdict after another.
The mass rape trial has shocked France and its implications will be felt far beyond the Avignon courthouse where judges have heard and seen more than three months of evidence.
Pelicot, 72, has become a feminist hero both at home and abroad for waiving her right to anonymity and standing up to her abusers in court.
The media doesn’t typically identify survivors of sexual abuse. Usually, publication bans prevent the media from doing so in order to protect the privacy of survivors and encourage them to report the crimes in the first place. But Pelicot waived her legal right to anonymity.
Everything about the trial in the southern French city of Avignon has been exceptional, most of all Pelicot herself.
She has been the epitome of steely dignity and resilience through the more than three months of appalling testimony, including extracts from her now ex-husband’s sordid library of homemade abuse videos.
Dominique Pelicot carefully catalogued how he habitually tranquilized his wife of 50 years during their last decade together so he and dozens of strangers he met online could rape her while she was unconscious.
Staggeringly, he found it easy to recruit his alleged accomplices. Many had jobs. Most are fathers. They came from all walks of life, with the youngest in his 20s and the oldest in their 70s.
Dominique Pelicot, by his own admission in court, invited dozens of men he recruited online over to his home to rape his wife, Gisèle Pelicot — whom he had drugged. In all, 51 men stand accused and verdicts are expected later this week. CBC’s Sarah Leavitt spoke to residents in Mazan about the trial’s impact in France.
In all, 50 men, including Dominique Pelicot, stood trial for aggravated rape and attempted rape. Another man was tried for aggravated sexual assault.
“They regarded me like a rag doll, like a garbage bag,” Gisèle Pelicot testified in court.
Sifting through the charges, the evidence, the backgrounds of the accused and their defences took so long that Dominique and Gisèle Pelicot had birthdays during the trial, with both turning 72.
Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, said that she would weigh a possible appeal, but she also expressed hope that Gisèle Pelicot would find solace in the court’s rulings.
“I wanted Mrs. Pelicot to be able to emerge from these hearings in peace, and I think that the verdicts will contribute to this relief for Mrs. Pelicot,” she said.
How did the case come about?
Dominique Pelicot’s meticulous recording and cataloguing of the encounters — police found more than 20,000 photos and videos on his computer drives, in folders titled “abuse,” “her rapists” or “night alone” — provided investigators with an abundance of evidence and helped lead them to the defendants.
That also set the case apart from many others in which sexual violence is unreported or isn’t prosecuted because the evidence isn’t as strong.
Gisèle Pelicot and her lawyers fought successfully for shocking video and other evidence to be heard and watched in open court, to show that she bore no shame and was clearly unconscious during the alleged rapes, undermining some defendants’ claims that she might have been feigning sleep or even have been a willing participant.
Her courage — one woman, alone, against dozens of men — proved inspirational.
Supporters, mostly women, lined up early each day for a place in the courthouse or to cheer and thank her as she walked in and out — stoic, humble and gracious, but also cognizant that her ordeal resonated beyond Avignon and France.
She said she was fighting for “all those people around the world, women and men, who are victims of sexual violence.”
“Look around you: You are not alone,” she said.
For anyone who has been sexually assaulted, there is support available through crisis lines and local support services via the Ending Violence Association of Canada database.
For anyone affected by family or intimate partner violence, there is support available through crisis lines and local support services.
If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.
