Macron thanks Gisèle Pelicot for her courage and dignity in the mass rape trial
French President Emmanuel Macron has praised Gisèle Pelicot for the strength she showed in the mass rape trial of her husband and 50 other men.
He described her as a trailblazer for women and said her “dignity and courage moved and inspired France and the world.”
Her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, 72, was sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison for aggravated rape after confessing to drugging her for nearly a decade and recruiting dozens of men to rape her while she was in a coma lay in bed.
After 50 other men were sentenced to lesser sentences, Gisèle Pelicot said the trial had been a difficult ordeal but that she believed in a future in which women and men could “live in harmony with respect and mutual understanding.”
It was her decision to renounce her anonymity and open the trial to the public that brought global attention to the issues of rape and drug-related sexual assault.
Judges in Avignon, southern France, found all 51 defendants, aged 27 to 74, guilty, but a lawyer for Gisèle Pelicot said Friday that “no verdict will give her back her ruined life.”
Her three children are said to have been disappointed that many of the sentences were shorter than what prosecutors had requested. They ranged from three to 15 years, rather than the maximum of 18 years requested by the prosecution.
41 of the men were reportedly immediately sent to prison. Many of those convicted are expected to appeal their sentences.
Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer said he was “somewhat stunned” by his 20-year sentence and would decide in the coming days whether to appeal. Judges say he must serve two-thirds of his sentence before being eligible for parole.
Anti-sexual violence activists stood outside the court throughout the trial, hoping it could lead to reform of France’s rape laws and change the debate about rape culture and drug-related sexual assault.
“Shame switches sides” has become one of the slogans of the case and, in a sign of the trial’s importance, Chancellor Olaf Scholz thanked Gisèle Pelicot for giving “a strong voice” to women around the world.
“The shame always lies with 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 publishing the proceedings, Gisèle Pelicot was trying to give society the opportunity “to deal with (the issues) and “Ask the right questions.
The president of the French National Assembly, Yaël Braun Pivet, said a taboo had been broken: “Thanks to you, the world is no longer the same.”
Former French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal hoped the mass rape trial would send a “shockwave” to the education of every little boy – “because this is where the fight for equality and respect begins”.
