Dominique Pelicot won't appeal guilty verdict for drugging and raping wife

Dominique Pelicot, recently sentenced to 20 years in prison by a French court for drugging and raping his then-wife Gisele over nearly a decade and facilitating her assault by dozens of strangers, has decided not to appeal the verdict, his lawyer said Monday.

However, a new trial will proceed, as 17 co-defendants have filed appeals against their convictions.  They come from all walks of life: lorry drivers, soldiers, firefighters, security guards, farm workers, a supermarket worker, a journalist and the unemployed.

Many of the accused had denied the charges, saying they thought it was a consensual sex game orchestrated by the couple and arguing that it was not rape if the husband approved.

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“He decided not to appeal, because he says it would be a new ordeal and new confrontations for his wife, who he always said in the debates was not his adversary,” Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer Beatrice Zavarro said on FranceInfo Radio.

Dominique Pelicot, who was married to Gisele for 50 years, had pleaded guilty and the panel of five judges gave him the maximum sentence, as requested by prosecutors.

The court found 46 of the other defendants guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape and two guilty of sexual assault, handing down sentences of between three and 15 years in jail, less than the four-to-18 years demanded by the prosecution.

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Dominique Pelicot, 72, denied misleading the men, whom he had met online, saying they knew exactly what they were doing.

The trial has triggered protest rallies around France in support of Gisele, and spurred soul searching, including a debate on whether to update France’s rape law, which at present makes no mention that sex should involve consent.

Gisele Pelicot said she was not afraid of a new trial, her lawyer said earlier this month.“She is not afraid. If it should happen, she has already told us she would cope – if she’s in good health, of course, because she is 72 today,” her lawyer said.

With inputs from agencies.