France mass rape trial: All 51 accused found guilty, Gisele Pelicot's ex-husband to spend 20 years in jail

Dominique Pelicot, the French man, accused of raping her wife Gisele Pelicot with 50 other men has been found guilty of aggravated rape.

A court on Thursday pronounced its verdict on the Pelicot mass rape trial and also convicted Dominique for making and distributing pictures and images of his ex-wife. He has also been found guilty of making and distributing sexual images of his adult daughter Caroline and the wives of his sons.

Pelicot, 72, has admitted drugging his ex-wife Gisele Pelicot and hiring strangers online to rape her together. The trial included the French man and 50 others who joined Pelicot in the heinous crime and responded to his invitation to abuse Gisele for almost a decade.

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What does the verdict say?

The court has also found Dominique guilty of the attempted aggravated rape of one of the co-accused in the Pelicot case, Jean Pierre Marechal’s wife Cillia.

Gisele’s ex-husband has been given the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Meanwhile, Marechal, who was the second man to receive a verdict, has been convicted of drugging and raping his own wife.

The 63-year-old previously confessed to following Dominique Pelicot’s example by drugging his wife over a span of five years, sexually assaulting her, and allowing Dominique to do the same.

What’s the case?

The case has sent shockwaves through the country and around the world and has been labelled as the worst case of sexual assault in France’s history.

Gisele Pelicot, 72, has become a feminist hero at home and abroad for refusing to be ashamed, waiving her right to a closed trial and standing up to her aggressors in court.

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Last month, prosecutors demanded the maximum possible sentence of 20 years for all the 51 men on charges of aggravated rape.

‘I regret what I did’

In his final statement on Monday, Dominique Pelicot reaffirmed that he had told “the whole truth” since the beginning of the trial on September 2.

“I would like to start by hailing the courage of my ex-wife,” he said sitting in the glass defendants’ box.

“I regret what I did, making (my family) suffer… I ask them for forgiveness,” he said.

“I can tell my whole family that I love them,” he said.

Meanwhile, several defence lawyers representing the 50 other men have tried to shift the narrative by saying that the men who raped Gisele were “victims” a “monster” who had manipulated them into assaulting her, referring to Dominique.

After Dominique Pelicot, all the other accused were given the chance to make final statements on Monday, although half of them simply said “nothing to add”.

Around 15 of the men, however, chose to ask Gisele Pelicot for forgiveness.

With inputs from agencies