The mass rape trial in the southern French city of Avignon is coming to an end and the court will announce its verdicts on Thursday in the long-term abuse of Gisèle Pelicot.
Pelicot’s ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, is alleged to have repeatedly drugged and abused his then-wife and offered her up to dozens of strangers for rape over a period of nearly ten years.
He admitted this during the trial and faces a prison sentence of twenty years.
Dominique Pelicot is said to have made contact with the other suspects on an online platform and recorded the abuse in hundreds of videos and photos.
In addition, fifty other defendants are on trial, with one accused of sexual abuse and the others all accused of rape.
The Public Prosecution Service is demanding prison sentences of four to eighteen years for the men, who would have been between 21 and 68 years old at the time of their offenses.
Many of the co-defendants claim they believed Pelicot had consented to the sexual encounters and was only pretending to be asleep.
Investigators suspect there are a dozen other perpetrators who have not yet been identified.
Pelicot, who is now 72, believes she has suffered about 200 rapes.
The trial, which has been ongoing since September, has shocked France and reignited debate over criminal law on sexual violence.
German victims’ group hopes for change
German crime victim support group the White Ring hopes the widely watched rape trial in Avignon, France, will help rape victims by changing society’s perception of the crime.
“Gisèle Pelicot is not only an admirably courageous woman – she is absolutely right when she demands: ‘Shame must change sides,’” said Bianca Biwer, the national director of the Victim Support Organization in Mainz.
“No one should feel ashamed as a victim of a crime. Perpetrators are responsible for their actions, never the victims,” Biwer emphasized.
“I sincerely hope that this realization will finally reach the last doubters in Germany who still believe that the clothing of a rape victim or the desire of a femicide victim to be separated has something to do with the crime.”
