French court sentences ex-husband to 20 yrs in prison for mass rape of Pelicot

Gisele Pelicot said after 51 men were all found guilty on Thursday in the drugging-and-rape trial that turned her into a feminist hero that the ordeal had been “very difficult” and expressed support for other victims of sexual violence.

“We share the same fight,” Gisele Pelicot, 72, said in her first words after the court in the southern French city of Avignon handed down prison sentences ranging from three to 20 years in the shocking case that stunned France and spurred a national reckoning about the blight of rape culture.

Gisele Pelicot — whose courage and stoicism have turned her into an internationally recognised figure and an icon for many women — said she was thinking of her grandchildren after enduring more than three months of court hearings that dealt with the nearly decade of rapes and other abuse inflicted on her by her now ex-husband and his accomplices.

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.

The sentence was the maximum possible under French law. He was declared guilty of all charges against him. At age 72, it could mean that he spends the rest of his life in prison. He won’t be eligible to ask for early release until at least two-thirds of the sentence has been served.

Roger Arata, the lead judge of the court in the southern French city Avignon, told Pelicot to stand for the sentencing. After it was delivered, he sat back down and cried.