Gisèle Pelicot's ex-husband and 49 others convicted in France’s mass rape trial

A French court on Thursday convicted Gisèle Pelicot's former husband of aggravated rape after he admitted to drugging and raping her repeatedly over nearly a decade.

He was given the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

Over the course of the trial, Pelicot — who insisted that her full name be published and the court proceedings be made public — has been praised for her courage and become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France and around the world.

Roger Arata, the lead judge at the court in Avignon, southeast France, then read out the verdicts for 49 other men who were also accused of raping Pelicot, at her then-husband's invitation, and one other accused of aggravated sexual assault. All the men were found guilty, but one had his conviction reduced from rape to sexual assault. They were all given sentences of between three and 15 years, and two of the sentence were suspended.

"The children are disappointed by these low sentences," one of Gisèle Pelicot's family members, who asked not to be named, told the AFP news agency.

Pelicot was greeted as she arrived at the court on Thursday by crowds holding signs saying things like: "Thank you for your courage." She and her daughters sat in the courtroom as the verdicts were read out, resting their heads against a wall.

The trial began on Sept. 2 and, almost every day, Pelicot came face to face with her former husband, Dominique, or one of the 50 other men charged with assaulting her. She insisted that videos submitted as evidence, made by her ex-husband and showing men assaulting her while she appeared unconscious, be shown in the court.

Dominique Pelicot was also found guilty of the attempted aggravated rape of a woman named Cillia, the wife of another man, Jean Pierre Marechal, who was one of the co-accused, as well as taking indecent images of his daughter, Caroline, and his daughters-in-law, Celine and Aurore, BBC News reported. Sitting in court, he showed no emotion as the verdicts were read out, according to the BBC. After the verdict and sentencing, his lawyer said he would have ten days to make an appeal, which he was considering.

Pelicot's case triggered protests across France, and there was hope among some demonstrators that the case could lead to changes in controversial French laws governing sexual consent.

France introduced a legal age of sexual consent in 2021 after a public outcry over the rape of an 11-year-old schoolgirl by a man who was initially convicted on a lesser charge. Since then, sex with anyone under the age of 15 has been viewed as non-consensual, but French law does not refer to consent in cases involving older victims.

Under French law, rape is defined as penetration or oral sex using "violence, coercion, threat or surprise," without taking consent into account, according to the Reuters news agency. Prosecutors must, therefore, prove an intention to rape if they are to be successful in court, legal experts told Reuters.

Just 14% of rape accusations in France lead to formal investigations, according to a study by the Institute of Public Policies.

News.Az