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France’s massive rape trial entered a new phase as prosecutors began handing down the verdicts and sentences they want for dozens of men accused of raping Gisele Pelicot while her husband drugged her unconscious.
After hearings that lasted almost three months, the trial of 51 defendants in the southern city of Avignon is coming to an end.
Pelicot’s bravery during the harrowing process helped transform her into an icon, even outside of France, for activists fighting sexual violence.
State prosecutors began Monday by focusing on Dominique Pelicot, the man to whom 71-year-old Gisèle Pelicot was married for nearly 50 years and whom she believed was caring and loving.
But he admitted that he mixed sedatives in her food and drink for years so he could rape her and also invited dozens of strangers he recruited online to rape her as well.
Prosecutor Laura Chabaud asked the court panel for the maximum possible sentence for aggravated rape – 20 years – for the victim’s ex-husband. Dominique Pelicot, who turns 72 this week, stared at the floor, one hand on the handle of his cane, as the prosecutor spoke.
“Twenty years between the four walls of the prison,” she said. – That is both a lot and not enough.
The court is expected to hand down its verdicts by December 20.
Gisele Pelicot, who waived her right to anonymity, asked that graphic images of the rape taken by her husband, which show her unconscious and inert, audibly snoring, be shown in court.
“This woman was you, Madame Gisele Pelicot, an ordinary woman,” said prosecutor Jean-François Mayet, turning to face her as he praised her courage and desire to force shame to change sides, so that it fell on the rapists, not on their victims.
He pointed out that Monday also marked the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and said France faced “a long way for our society to change its view of rape culture”.
Gisele Pelicot sat quietly, sometimes staring at the ceiling, as prosecutors detailed how Dominique Pelicot collected and carefully cataloged a library of 20,000 photos and videos of abuse spanning nearly a decade.
Evidence he stored on hard drives, memory cards and phones led investigators to dozens of people he recruited, although about two dozen others have not been identified.
All but one defendant is on trial for aggravated rape or attempted rape. In her previous testimony, she said that she was treated “like a rag doll, like a garbage bag.”
The number of defendants and alleged rapes is so numerous that prosecutors were expected to take three days to summarize the evidence and deliver the verdicts and sentences they want.
In the first cases prosecutors focused on Monday, after seeking 20 years in prison for Dominique Pelicot, they sought sentences of 10 years or more for co-defendants also on trial for rape or attempted rape.
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