Dominique Pelicot (72), the main defendant in a French rape trial that has shocked the world, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the aggravated rape of his then-wife Gisèle Pelicot (72). All 50 other men on trial were also found guilty.
The panel of five judges in an Avignon courthouse on Thursday convicted Dominique Pelicot of aggravated rape of Gisèle Pelicot on Thursday. The court also convicted him of making and distributing pictures and images of her.
He has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, the maximum penalty. Prosecutors requested this after Dominique Pelicot admitted that, for nearly a decade between July 2011 and October 2020, he had drugged his wife of 50 years so that he and strangers he recruited online, some of them locals, could abuse her.
Dominique Pelicot filmed the acts and stored the footage on his computer, allowing the men to be identified. His lawyer Béatrice Zavarro told reporters outside the court that he has 10 days to appeal the sentence and is considering doing so, The Guardian reported.
Along with Dominique Pelicot, another 50 men were on trial, most of whom denied the charges. All were accused of being recruited by Dominique Pelicot to rape Gisèle Pelicot after she had been drugged. The panel of five judges them all guilty too, Reuters reported. The court found 46 of them guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape and two guilty of sexual assault. One man is on the run and being tried in his absence.
Placing shame on the rapist
The Mazan mass rape trial – named after the southern French town where Pelicot lived – has been ongoing in Avignon since September 2024 and held France and the rest of the world spellbound for months.
French TV cameras outside the Avignon courtroom captured the cries of joy that rang out as those gathered there, many of them supporters of Gisèle Pelicot, who was unaware of the abuse until she was informed by police who discovered the footage on her husband's computer.
In the process of the trial, the 72-year-old woman has become a feminist icon. She decided to waive her anonymity and throw the trial into the open. Her goal in doing so was to ensure the shame was not placed on the victim but on the rapist.
Dominique Pelicot has also been found guilty of making and distributing sexual images of his adult daughter Caroline and the wives of his sons. The sentence for these counts is to follow after.
This story is developing.
