Gisèle Pelicot’s ex-husband found guilty in mass rape trial in France

A judge in France on Thursday found the former husband of Gisèle Pelicot, who admitted to drugging and raping her repeatedly over the course of almost a decade and inviting dozens of other men to assault her as well, guilty of aggravated rape. Over the course of her trial, Pelicot — who insisted her full name be published and 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. 

The judge at the court in Avignon, southeast France, was reading out verdicts for 49 other men who were also accused of raping Pelicot, at her husband’s invitation, and one other accused of aggravated sexual assault.

Pelicot was greeted as she arrived at the court on Thursday by crowds holding signs saying: “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, CBS News partner network BBC News reported.

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.

The assaults took place between 2011 and 2020, when Dominique Pelicot was taken into custody. Police found thousands of photos and videos of the abuse on his computer drives, which helped lead them to other suspects. Some of the men said in court that they believed the unconscious woman was okay with it, or that her husband’s permission was sufficient.

“Gisèle Pelicot thinks that this shockwave is necessary, so that no one can say after this: ‘I didn’t know this was rape,'” her attorney, Stéphane Babonneau, told The Associated Press.

“It’s not for us to feel shame — it’s for them,” Pelicot declared during the trial, referring to the attackers. “Above all, I’m expressing my will and determination to change this society.”

Controversial French laws

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.

“Why don’t we manage to obtain convictions? The first reason is the law,” legal expert Catherine Le Magueresse told Reuters. “The law is written in such a way that victims must comply with the stereotype of a ‘good victim’ and a ‘true rape’: an unknown attacker, use of violence, and the victim’s resistance. But it is only true for a minority of rapes.”

“I’m trying to understand”

Speaking in court during the trial, Pelicot, who is 72, talked about how she had thought she was in a loving marriage with her husband and would never have guessed that he was drugging her.

“We would have a glass of white wine together. I never found anything strange about my potatoes,” Pelicot told the court.

“We finished eating. Often when it’s a football match on TV, I’d let him watch it alone. He brought my ice cream to my bed, where I was. My favorite flavor — raspberry —  and I thought: ‘How lucky I am. He’s a love.'”

She said she didn’t have any sensation of being drugged.

“I never felt my heart flutter. I didn’t feel anything. I must have gone under very quickly. I would wake up with my pajamas on,” Pelicot told the court, adding that she would sometimes wake up “more tired than usual, but I walk a lot and thought it was that.”

“I’m trying to understand,” she said, “how this husband, who was the perfect man, could have got to this.”