I am so impressed with Gisele Pelicot's bravery and commitment to show rape victims they can survive rape and get justice. I hope and pray whatever time she has left that God grant her strength, peace and joy with her family and friends and Him. Given the nature of their crimes, if dominique pelicot and the others were sentenced in the U.S. they would probably be pardoned by (NOT MY) pres elect drumpf / trump once he is sworn in. If he was born in America he too could be elected president. From the Washington Post.....
Dominique Pelicot convicted with 50 others in rape trial that shocked world
Pelicot, 72, was convicted of orchestrating the drugging and mass rape of his wife over almost a decade. Fifty other men were also found guilty, most of rape.
Updated
Leo Sands is a breaking-news reporter and editor in The Washington Post’s London Hub, covering news as it unfolds around the world.
Judges on Thursday convicted a Frenchman of aggravated rape and other charges, after the 72-year-old admitted to repeatedly drugging his wife and recruiting dozens of other men to rape her over almost a decade.
The three-month trial — held in open court at the request of Gisèle Pelicot, who said she wanted the world to know what had happened to her — has drawn horror and attention internationally, triggered a reckoning about sexual violence in France and turned the grandmother into a feminist hero.
“I have never regretted this decision. I now have confidence in our ability to collectively seize a future in which each woman and man can live in harmony with respect and mutual understanding,” she said outside the courtroom after the verdict was delivered.
All 50 of Dominique Pelicot’s co-defendants were also found guilty Thursday: 46 of rape, two of attempted rape and two of sexual assault. The judges handed them sentences ranging from a three-year suspended sentence to 15 years in prison.
A lawyer representing Dominique Pelicot told reporters that her client would make a decision over whether to lodge an appeal by Dec. 29.
Throughout the trial, Dominique Pelicot did not dispute the prosecution’s account. “I am a rapist, like everyone else in this room. They cannot say otherwise,” he said during the trial in September.
Pelicot told the court he developed a routine of secretly sedating his wife by slipping crushed antianxiety medication into her food and drinks. The dose was enough to keep her unconscious for seven hours. Through an online forum, he recruited strangers to sexually assault her in their home and other places he and his wife were staying.
His activity came under scrutiny in 2020 after three women reported him for allegedly trying to film under their skirts, according to prosecutors. Police arrested him and seized his technological devices, where they found hundreds of photos and videos allegedly showing his wife being sexually assaulted by multiple men, one of Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyers previously told The Washington Post.
About 15 of Pelicot’s co-defendants admitted their guilt, while others contested the charges against them. About 20 additional men who appeared in his videos have yet to be identified.
The defendants who appeared in court ranged in age from 26 to 74. They included truck drivers, army veterans, a fireman and a nurse. Some apologized directly to Gisèle Pelicot in the courtroom. One was accused of raping her up to six times and another of being inspired to commit a copycat crime against his own wife. One defendant was tried in absentia after fleeing the country.
Gisèle Pelicot’s decision to address her experiences publicly has forced a wider conversation about sexual violence in France. Throughout the trial, she asked people to consider why so many people were willing to participate in her abuse — and why no one went to the police to report what was going on.
Yaël Braun-Pivet, the president of France’s National Assembly, thanked Pelicot for her courage, which she said had helped break societal taboos surrounding sexual assault. “The world is no longer the same thanks to you,” Braun-Pivet wrote in a statement on X.
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