Gisèle Pelicot arrives at court to see her rapist husband put behind bars as Monster of Avignon faces 20 years in jail
19 December 2024, 08:28 | Updated: 19 December 2024, 08:34
Judges in France are to hand down verdicts today on 51 men in a mass rape trial that has horrified the country.
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Dominique Pelicot, 72, is accused of drugging his ex-wife, Gisèle, raping her and inviting dozens of men to also abuse her over nearly a decade
He is on trial on trial with 50 other men, the majority of whom deny charges of rape.
The ordeal inflicted over nearly a decade on Gisèle Pelicot in what she thought was a loving marriage, and her courage during the trial has transformed the retired power company worker into a feminist hero of the nation.
Pelicot, 72, who has failing health, has accepted that he will die behind bars, with his daughter yelling at him during the trial: "You will die alone like a dog and caught out in lies!"
Her trial galvanised campaigners against sexual violence and spurred calls for tougher measures to stamp out rape culture.
Dominique Pelicot, also 72, and 49 other men were tried in the southern French city of Avignon for aggravated rape and attempted rape - and face up to 20 years' imprisonment if convicted.
Prosecutors have asked that he gets the maximum penalty and for sentences of 10-18 years for the others. They also requested a four-year prison term for another defendant who was tried for aggravated sexual assault.
The 51 men were all accused of having taken part in Dominique Pelicot's sordid rape and abuse fantasies that were acted out in the couple's retirement home in the small Provence town of Mazan and elsewhere.
Dominique Pelicot testified that he hid tranquilisers in food and drink that he gave his then-wife, knocking her out so profoundly that he could do what he wanted to her for hours.
One of the men was on trial not for assaulting Gisele Pelicot but for drugging and raping his own wife - with the help and drugs from Pelicot, who was also tried for raping the other man's wife.
The five judges were voting by secret ballot in their rulings, with a majority vote required to convict and also for the sentences of those found guilty.
Campaigners against sexual violence are hoping for exemplary prison terms and view the trial as a possible turning point in the fight against rape culture and the use of drugs to subdue victims.
Pelicot first came to the attention of police in September 2020, when a supermarket security guard caught him filming up women's skirts.
Police subsequently found his library of homemade images documenting years of abuse inflicted on his wife - more than 20,000 photos and videos in all, stored on computer drives and catalogued in folders marked "abuse", "her rapists", "night alone" and other titles.
The abundance of evidence led police to the other defendants. In the videos, investigators counted 72 different abusers but were not able to identify them all.
Although some of the accused - including Pelicot - acknowledged they were guilty of rape, many did not, even in the face of video evidence.
The hearings sparked wider debate in France about whether the country's legal definition of rape should be expanded to include specific mention of consent.
Some defendants argued that Pelicot's consent covered his wife, too.
Some sought to excuse their behaviour by insisting that they had not intended to rape anyone when they responded to the husband's invitations to come to their home.
Some laid blame at his door, saying he misled them into thinking they were taking part in consensual kink.
Giving evidence last month, Gisèle said: "I will have to live with this for the rest of my life"
