Pelicot sentenced to 20-years prison in rape trial that shook France

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 reached the decision, which was announced to a packed courtroom in Avignon, in southern France. The head judge, Roger Arata, was reading out guilty verdicts on rape charges against 50 other defendants, as well, and sentences were expected to be announced later.

The case has reverberated worldwide as its shocking details came to light. From the moment of his arrest in late 2020, 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. He took thousands of video clips and photos of the encounters, which the police later used to identify and track down the accused.

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, 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.