Gisèle Pelicot trial: ‘She looked at every guilty man as he was sentenced’
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A court in Avignon, France, has found 51 men guilty of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault of Gisèle Pelicot, including her husband, in a case that has shocked the world.
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In brief…
- Pelicot waived her right to anonymity in the trial, concerning crimes over nearly a decade, in order to shift shame from the victims of rape to the perpetrators.
- Journalist Amelia Jenne, who was in Avignon covering the trial, tells The News Agents how Pelicot stared at each and every man as the judge delivered guilty verdicts.
- Jon Sopel and Emily Maitlis say that questions now remain about the sentences, and what made this horrific ordeal a reality.
What’s the story?
51 men. Ten years. One abused woman.
The story of 72-year-old Gisèle Pelicot, drugged by her husband, Dominique Pelicot, and raped by men he found online, has gripped and appalled France and the wider world as the public trial played out this year.
Pelicot waived her right to anonymity in order to "shame-swap sides" from the woman abused to the men who perpetrated the crime.
On 19 December 2024, judges in the city of Avignon, France, sentenced her husband to 20 years behind bars for aggravated rape.
The court found a total of 47 men guilty of rape, two of attempted rape and two of sexual assault, and the other men involved were given sentences ranging between three and 15 years behind bars.
The crimes were committed over nearly a decade, between 2011 and 2020, during which time Pelicot's husband would drug her with tranquillisers and sleeping pills. He would then find men online, with firefighters, lorry drivers, security guards, soldiers, a journalist and a DJ among the men involved.
The drugs caused memory loss and blackouts, leading Pelicot to believe she may have had dementia or Alzheimer's.
The husband was only caught when he was reported to police for taking up-skirt photos of women in a supermarket, leading to his computer being seized by police, on which the filmed evidence of the rapes of Pelicot were stored.
What happened in the Avignon court
Amelia Jenne, Channel 4 correspondent in France, who has been covering the case, told The News Agents that the most striking moment for her was seeing the men involved in the trial arrive outside the court, where crowds had been gathering since 7am in the morning.
“A considerable number of the suspects arrived on foot with packed bags, walking into court past more than 100 people who'd been waiting since dawn to support her,” Jenne says.
“The protesters were shouting: ‘Rapists, we see you’.
“One by one, the judge found them all guilty of either rape or sexual assault, but the majority of them rape, and then outside it just sort of erupted.
“Pelicot was looking at each man as the sentence was handed down.”
Jenne says there was a lot of anger outside the court after sentencing, especially directed to one guilty man who had already served the total of his sentence behind bars in the years leading up to the trial, and so was able to return home with his partner when the trial ended.
She adds that along with the men involved, the court was also packed with their partners and children - including some under ten years old. Jenne says that the crowds outside, while angry, were respectful of them.
What Pelicot said following sentencing
Just before midday on 19 December, Gisèle Pelicot spoke to journalists waiting outside the court, after sentences were handed down to the guilty men.
She said she "led this fight" with her children and grandchildren in mind, and that she was thinking of the other families affected by the case.
"I think of the victims who have gone unrecognised, whose stories have often stayed in the shadows. I want you to know that we share the same fight," she said.
"I want to express my sincere gratitude to all the people who supported me every step of the way on this trial, and for their testimony.
"You gave me the strength to return every day to carry on this difficult trial."
She added that she had no regrets in her decision to make the trial public.
"I wanted, in opening the doors of this trial on the 2nd of September, for society to see what was happening.
"I have never regretted this decision.
"I now have confidence in our capacity to collectively seize a future where everyone, men and women, can live in harmony in mutual respect and understanding. Thank you."
What’s The News Agents’ take?
The trial is over and 50 men are now behind bars for their role in the years of rape and assault Pelicot was subjected to.
But, The News Agents say, questions remain.
“It's not just about 50 individuals facing charges for rape, it is something much bigger about where we are as a society,” says Jon Sopel.
“Is it about Internet porn? Is it about people having been totally desensitised that men would think this is either okay to do or erotic to do? It's unfathomable.”
For Emily Maitlis, the big question now is how French law can, or should, adapt to situations of this magnitude.
“It's fair to say that although there was satisfaction at hearing that guilty verdict read out so many times, there was a slight astonishment that the sentences themselves didn't seem to be longer,” she says.
“France gives a maximum 20 year sentence for rape, and that is what Dominique her ex husband got.”
Others received much shorter sentences.
“I guess this will start a whole new debate in France, about the sentencing of such a horrific crime and whether it really matches up to the times we live in,” Emily adds.
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