Gisele Pelicot’s ex-husband jailed 20 years in France mass rape trial

AVIGNON, (France): Gisele Pelicot’s ex-husband was jailed on Thursday for 20 years over her drugging and mass rape by strangers recruited online, in a case that shocked France and resonated around the world.

The dozens of other defendants were handed terms of up to 15 years, which women’s rights groups and the three Pelicot children, according to a source, condemned as too lenient.

But in her first comment after the judgement, 72-year-old Gisele Pelicot, who has become a feminist hero over her insistence the trial be public, said: “I respect the court and the decision of its verdict.”

The convictions of all 51 defendants and their sentencing brought to a close a three-month trial that turned Gisele Pelicot, who was drugged and unconscious while she was raped, into an symbol of female courage in the face of male sexual violence.

The trial garnered immense interest in the wake of her decision to allow the trial to be open to the public from the outset and waive her right to anonymity.

Her former husband Dominique Pelicot, who had already confessed to the crimes, was earlier found guilty by the court in the southern city of Avignon.

Presiding judge Roger Arata said Dominique Pelicot, 72, will not be eligible for parole until he has served two thirds of his sentence.

His 50 co-defendants were also convicted by the court, with no acquittals.

They received jail terms of between three and 15 years but this was in all cases less than what prosecutors had demanded and, in some cases, even half. Two of the defendants had their jail terms suspended.