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French President Emmanuel Macron has paid tribute to Gisèle Pelicot for the strength she showed at the mass rape trial of her husband and 50 other men.
Describing her as a pioneer for women, he said her “dignity and courage moved and inspired France and the world.”
Her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, 72, received a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for aggravated rape, after confessing to drugging her for almost a decade and recruiting dozens of men to rape her while she lay in a coma in bed.
After 50 other men received lesser sentences, Gisèle Pelicot said the trial was a difficult experience, but that she believed in a future where women and men could “live in harmony with mutual respect and understanding.”
It was her decision to waive her anonymity and open the trial to the public that brought global attention to the issues of rape and drug-induced sexual assault.
Judges in Avignon, in the south of France, found the 51 defendants, aged between 27 and 74, guilty, but a lawyer for Gisèle Pelicot said on Friday that “no sentence will give her back her ruined life.”
His three sons were said to have been disappointed that many of the sentences had been shorter than those requested by prosecutors. The sentences ranged from three to 15 years, instead of the maximum of 18 that prosecutors had requested.
41 of the men have reportedly been sent to prison immediately. Many of those convicted are likely to appeal their sentences.
Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer said he was “somewhat surprised” by his 20-year jail sentence and would decide whether to appeal in the coming days. Judges say he will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence before being eligible for parole.
Anti-sexual violence activists have remained outside the court throughout the trial and hope it can bring about reform of France’s rape laws and change the debate over rape culture and drug-induced sexual assault.
“Shame changes sides” has become one of the mottos of the case and, as a sign of the importance of the process, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz thanked Gisèle Pelicot for having given women around the world “a strong voice “.
“The shame always falls on the perpetrator,” Scholz added.
One of her lawyers, Antoine Camus, told France Info radio on Friday that the trial would serve as a “building block” and that by making the process public, Gisèle Pelicot intended to allow society to “address (the issues) and make the right questions.”
The president of the French National Assembly, Yaël Braun Pivet, stated that a taboo had been broken: “The world is no longer the same thanks to you.”
Former French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal hoped the mass rape trial would send a “shock wave” through every child’s education, “because this is where the fight for equality and respect begins.”
