A judge in France on Thursday found the ex-husband of Giselle Pellicault who admitted to drugging and raping her repeatedly over nearly a decade and inviting dozens of other men to attack her as well, guilty of aggravated rape. He received the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
During the trial, Pellicott — who insisted that her full name be published and the court the proceedings to be made public — was praised for her courage and became a symbol of the fight against sexual violence in France and around the world.
Roger Arata, the lead judge at the court in Avignon, south-east France, then read the sentences for 49 other men who were also accused of raping Pellicote, at the invitation of her husband, and another charged with aggravated sexual assault. All the men were found guilty, but one had his sentence reduced from rape to sexual assault.
Pellicott was greeted when she arrived in court Thursday by crowds holding signs saying, "Thank you for your courage." She and her daughters sat in the courtroom as the verdicts were read, their heads against the wall, CBS News affiliate BBC News reported.
The trial began on September 2, and almost every day Pellicott came face to face with her ex-husbandDominique or one of the 50 other men accused of assaulting her. She insisted in court that videos taken by her ex-husband showing men assaulting her while she appeared to be unconscious be shown in evidence.
Dominique Pellicot was also found guilty of attempted aggravated rape of a woman named Celia, wife of another man, Jean-Pierre Maréchal, who was one of the accused, and of making indecent images of his daughter Caroline and his daughter-in-law, Celine and Auror, BBC News reported. Sitting in court, he showed no emotion as the verdicts were read out, according to the BBC.
The attacks took place between 2011 and 2020, when Dominique Pellico was detained. Police found thousands of photos and videos of the abuse on his computer devices, which helped lead them to other suspects. Some of the men told the court they thought the unconscious woman was fine with it or that her husband's permission was enough.
"It's not for us to be ashamed — it's for them," Pellicott said during the trial, referring to the attackers. "First of all, I express my will and determination to change this society.
Pellicott continued to attend hearings during the trial, in part because she "felt that she somehow represented the victims of these types of abuses," her attorney, Stephane Babono, said before Thursday's sentencing. "There are many victims who go to court, stand up to their aggressors without anyone outside, line up for them, offer flowers. So she felt she had to continue to focus because she didn't choose, but she felt she represented the victims in some way and she felt responsible for that."
Controversial French laws
Pellicote's case sparked 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 introduces legal age of sexual consent in 2021 following a public outcry over the rape of an 11-year-old schoolgirl by a man who was initially convicted of a lesser charge. Since then, sex with a person under the age of 15 has been considered involuntary, 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 "force, coercion, threat or surprise" without regard to consent, according to Reuters. Prosecutors must therefore prove intent to rape if they want to succeed in court, legal experts told Reuters.
Only 14% of rape allegations in France lead to an official investigation, according to a study by the Institute for Public Policy.
"Why are we failing to get convictions? The first reason is the law," French legal expert Catherine Le Magerres told Reuters. "The law is written in such a way that victims have to conform to the stereotype of a 'good victim' and 'real rape': unknown assailant, use of violence and resistance of the victim. But this is only true of a minority of rape victims."
"trying to understand"
Speaking in court during the trial, Pellicott, who is 72, spoke of how she thought she was in a loving marriage with her husband and would never have guessed what was happening.
"We had a glass of white wine together. I never found anything strange about my potatoes,” Pellicott told the court. "We finished eating. Often, when there was a football match on TV, I left him to 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 is love."
She said she had no sense of being drugged.
“I have never felt my heart flutter. I didn't feel anything. I must have disappeared very quickly. I was waking up in my pyjamas," Pellicott told the court, adding that she sometimes woke up "more tired than usual, but I walk a lot and I thought that was it
"I'm trying to understand," she said, "how this husband, who was the ideal man, could come to this."
"Nothing is going to give her back the 15 years she lost, the 10 years she lived without knowing what was happening to her," Pellicott's attorney, Stephan Babono, said before Thursday's sentencing. "All she can expect now is for justice to be served, and then, well, who could find comfort in someone going to prison for 10, 15 years, seeing another family destroyed. No one - and in fact - definitely not her. "
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