The rape trial of 51 defendants in the southern French city of Avignon has shocked France and sparked a national discussion on sexual violence.
Some prosecutors have demanded the maximum sentence for Gisèle Pélicot’s ex-husband, who is accused of drugging her and inviting dozens of men to rape her while unconscious in their shared home in Provence in a trial that has shocked France.
Prosecutor Laure Chabaud asked the panel of judges for 20 years — the maximum possible penalty for aggravated rape — for Pélicot’s now ex-husband.
“Twenty years between the four walls of a prison,” Chabaud said. “It’s both a lot and not enough.”
Dominique Pélicot has pleaded guilty to the charges against him, telling court last week that he had repeatedly drugged his wife to render her unconscious and invited men to rape her between 2011 and 2020 without her knowledge.
The trial, which has gone on for almost three months, is moving toward a new phase, with prosecutors laying out the verdicts and punishments for the 51 defendants who are accused of raping Gisèle Pélicot.
Although Dominique Pélicot has pleaded guilty, many of his co-defendants have denied raping Gisèle Pélicot, saying her then-husband had manipulated them or that they believed she was consenting.
During his testimony, Dominique Pélicot said his co-defendants were fully aware of what they were doing when he invited them to have sex with his unconscious wife, who has since divorced him.
The court is expected to deliver its verdicts before 20 December.
Trial shocks France
The trial has drawn international attention and transformed Gisèle Pélicot into an icon for campaigners fighting against sexual violence.
Gisèle Pélicot waived her right to be anonymous and pushed for graphic images that her husband filmed of the rapes to be presented in the courtroom as evidence she was unconscious.
Prosecutor Jean-François Mayet has praised the housewife for her desire to make shame “change sides” and fall on the rapists and not their victims.
Prosecutors detailed that her ex-husband amassed and carefully catalogued a library of 20,000 photos and videos of the abuse that stretched over nearly a decade, with the evidence stored on hard drives, memory sticks and phones.
When police officers called Gisèle Pélicot in for questioning in late 2020, she initially told them her husband was “a great guy,″ according to legal documents, before divorcing her husband after learning of the evidence against him.
Last week, Gisèle Pélicot gave her closing statement at the trial, saying it was time to “change the way we look at rape.”
