Gisèle Pelicot speaks after ex-husband found guilty of rapes, sentenced to 20 years in France

After a lengthy trial, 51 men have been convicted for drugging and raping Giséle Pelicot, a case that has propelled her to the status of a feminist hero. Ms. Pelicot stated that the experience was “very difficult” and expressed her support for other victims of sexual violence.

Speaking for the first time after the verdicts were delivered at a court in Avignon, southern France, she said: “We have a common fight.” The court handed down sentences ranging from three to 20 years for those involved, in a shocking case that has not only stunned France but also sparked a national reckoning on rape culture. Ms. Pelicot’s courage and resilience have made her an internationally recognized figure and an icon for many women.

Ms. Pelicot stated that after more than three months of court hearings, she thought about her grandchildren. The hearings involved the rapes and other abuses she suffered for nearly a decade at the hands of her ex-husband and his accomplices. “I fought this battle for them too,” she said of her grandchildren. The court sentenced her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, to 20 years in prison for drugging and raping her, and allowing other men to rape her while she was unconscious. This sentence is the maximum allowed under French law, and he was found guilty on all counts.

Dominique Pelicot, 72, may spend the rest of his life in prison. He will only be eligible for parole after serving at least two-thirds of his sentence. The presiding judge, Roger Arata, ordered Pelicot to stand to receive his sentence. After the verdict was read, he sat back down and wept. Arata read out the verdicts for Dominique Pelicot and the other 50 men one by one, announcing “you are therefore found guilty of aggravated rape of Ms. Giséle Pelicot” when he reached the first name on the list. Giséle Pelicot sat on one side of the courtroom, facing the defendants, sometimes nodding as the verdicts were read. It took more than an hour for Arata to read out the guilty verdicts and sentences.

Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, said she would consider whether to appeal, but also hoped that Giséle Pelicot would find solace in the court’s decision. “I hope that Ms. Pelicot can leave these hearings in peace, and I think that these sentences will help to ease Ms. Pelicot’s pain,” she said. Of the 50 men accused of rape, only one was found not guilty, but was convicted of aggravated sexual assault. Another man was also convicted of sexual assault, meaning that all 51 defendants were found guilty of something.

In a side room where the families of the accused watched the proceedings on television screens, some broke down in tears and cried out as the sentences were read. Protesters gathered outside the courthouse followed the proceedings on their phones. Some read out the verdicts and applauded as they were announced inside the courtroom. Some held up oranges as a symbolic gift for the defendants heading to jail. Prosecutors had asked for the maximum 20-year sentence for Dominique Pelicot, and between 10 and 18 years for others accused of rape. But the court was more lenient than the prosecutors had hoped, with many receiving sentences of less than a decade.

For the defendants other than Dominique Pelicot, sentences ranged from three to 15 years, with some receiving suspended sentences. Arata told six defendants that they were now free, considering the time they had already spent in detention while awaiting trial. Dominique Pelicot admitted that for years he had been drugging his wife of 50 years so that he and strangers he recruited online could abuse her while he filmed the assaults. Giséle Pelicot endured nearly a decade of horrific torment, and is now a 72-year-old grandmother. The ordeal she suffered in what she thought was a loving marriage, and her courage throughout the grueling trial, have turned the retired electricity company worker into a national feminist hero.

The trial, which lasted more than three months, has fueled a movement against sexual violence and prompted calls for tougher measures to eradicate rape culture. The defendants were all accused of participating in Dominique Pelicot’s sordid fantasies of rape and abuse at the couple’s retirement home and other locations in the Provencal town of Mazan. Dominique Pelicot testified that he hid sedatives in his then-wife’s food and drinks, rendering her unconscious so that he could abuse her at will for hours. One of the men was on trial not for assaulting Giséle Pelicot, but for raping his own wife with the help and drugs provided by Dominique Pelicot. Dominique Pelicot was also on trial for raping another man's wife.

Five judges reached their verdicts by secret ballot, requiring a majority to convict and sentence. Anti-sexual violence activists had hoped for exemplary sentences and see the trial as a possible turning point in the fight against rape culture and the use of drugs to subdue victims. Giséle Pelicot bravely waived her anonymity as a survivor of sexual abuse and successfully pushed for open hearings and the release of shocking evidence, including videos, which have sparked national discussions across France, and among families, couples and friends, about how to better protect women and the role men can play in achieving this.

“Men are starting to talk to women – their girlfriends, mothers and friends – in ways they didn’t before,” said Fanny Foures, 48, who along with other women from the feminist group Amazones, has been posting messages of support for Giséle Pelicot on walls around Avignon. “It was awkward at first, but now real conversations are happening.” Foures added, “Some women may be realizing for the first time that their ex-husbands violated them, or that abuse was perpetrated by someone close to them. And men are starting to reflect on their own behavior or complicity – things they ignored or failed to act on. It’s heavy, but it’s creating change.”

Activists hung a giant banner across a city wall opposite the courthouse reading “MERCI GISELE” – thank you, Giséle. Dominique Pelicot first came to the attention of police in September 2020, when a supermarket security guard caught him filming up women’s skirts. Police then discovered his homemade archive of images documenting the abuse he inflicted on his wife over the years – more than 20,000 photos and videos in total, stored on computer hard drives and cataloged under headings such as “abuse,” “her rapists,” “nights alone,” and others. The sheer volume of evidence led police to the other defendants.

In the videos, investigators counted 72 different abusers, but were unable to identify them all. While some of the defendants – including Dominique Pelicot – admitted that they had committed rape, many others did not, even when confronted with video evidence. The hearings have sparked a broader debate in France about whether the country’s legal definition of rape should be expanded to explicitly refer to consent. Some defendants argued that Dominique Pelicot’s consent also covered his wife. Some tried to justify their actions, insisting that when they responded to the husband’s invitation to come to his home, they had not intended to rape anyone. Some blamed him, saying he misled them into thinking they were participating in a consensual sexual fetish.