For months, the world has watched a criminal trial in France: the trial of Dominique Pelicot, a 72-year-old French man who spent years drugging and raping his wife Gisèle Pelicot, and inviting dozens of men to rape her while she was unconscious. Not only that, but Dominique Pelicot documented the assaults on his wife with videos and photos. Gisèle Pelicot has become a national and international icon of survival and grace, as she wanted the case publicized. She authorized the use of her name and image to get justice. Well, after a lengthy, shocking trial, Dominique Pelicot has been convicted. Fifty other rapists were also convicted.
Dominique Pelicot, 72, who admitted to drugging his wife for almost a decade and inviting dozens of strangers he met on the internet to join him in violating her, was convicted on Thursday of aggravated rape and other charges and sentenced to the maximum 20 years in prison. The verdict capped a trial that has horrified France, prompted profound discussions about rape culture and toxic masculinity, and turned Gisèle Pelicot, his wife of 50 years, into a feminist hero.
Five judges also convicted the 50 other defendants, with the head judge, Roger Arata, reading out guilty verdicts, one after the other, to a packed courtroom in Avignon, in southern France. In addition, Mr. Pelicot was found guilty of raping the wife of one of the men who was convicted, and of taking and distributing photos of Ms. Pelicot; his daughter, Caroline; and two daughters-in-law.
The case has reverberated worldwide as its shocking details came to light. From the moment of his arrest in late 2020, Mr. Pelicot has admitted to crushing sleeping pills into his wife’s food and drink before he and other men raped her as she lay nearly comatose in their bedroom in the town of Mazan. He took thousands of video clips and photos of the encounters, which the police later used to identify and track down other perpetrators.
Ms. Pelicot, 72, who has divorced her husband, waived anonymity to make the trial public, and her poise and courage have made her widely admired in France. Her face has appeared on nightly TV newscasts, the front pages of newspapers, graffitied walls and signs held up by protesters around the country. She has renounced her former surname but has used it during the trial.
How did Dominique Pelicot not get a life sentence? He was guilty of thousands of crimes, thousands of violations. As for the other men… their sentences were mostly for eight-to-ten years (the prosecution asked for 10-18-year sentences). The sentencing and the whole case has set off a debate about France’s criminal code, and whether France needs to redefine “rape” to include sex without consent. The 50 other convicted rapists were called “Monsieur Tout-le-monde” (Mr. Every Man) in the French media because they really were just “regular guys,” neighbors of the Pelicots, “truck drivers, carpenters and trade workers, a prison guard, a nurse, an I.T. expert working for a bank, a local journalist.” Horrific.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
