Summary of the day
A panel of five judges has found Dominique Pelicot guilty of all charges against him, including aggravated rape of Gisèle Pelicot.
He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the maximum possible under French law.
Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer has reminded reporters that he has 10 days to appeal and that he is considering whether to do so.
The panel of judges has also found all of the 50 other men on trial guilty. The French court found 46 of them guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape and two guilty of sexual assault.
The co-defendants were sentenced to between three and 15 years in jail, with two of the sentences suspended.
Following the announcement of the sentences for the co-defendants, the supporters of Gisèle and women’s rights campaigners gathered outside the courtroom in Avignon and chanted “Shame on justice”. Their anger was seemingly directed at the fact that some of the sentences handed down to the co-defendants were lower than those demanded by the state prosecutor.
A family member has told news agency AFP that the three children of Dominique and Gisèle Pelicot believe that the verdicts handed down by a French court to the other 50 men on trial were too mild. Only the sentence given to Dominique Pelicot was fully in line with what prosecutors had demanded.
Speaking to reporters, Gisèle Pelicot said she had “never regretted” her decision to open the trial to the public and added that she respects the court and the decisions it made.
Tributes to Gisèle Pelicot and her tremendous courage have poured in from across France’s political spectrum and beyond, with Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz and Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, also thanking Gisèle Pelicot on social media.
We are now closing this blog but you can read our report on the verdict and Gisèle Pelicot’s extraordinary courage here:
Updated
Women's rights campaigners call for a "comprehensive" law against sexual violence
A coalition of more than 60 organisations have called on France to adopt a “comprehensive law” on sexual violence following the Mazan rape trial.
“Today, shame has changed sides, but the fight against impunity has only just begun,” Anne-Cécile Mailfert of Fondation des Femmes, or Women’s Foundation, said in a statement.
The Fondation des Femmes said that while the court had proven Gisèle right by showing that shame can change sides, they shared in the “incomprehension and disappointment at some of the sentences handed down, that despite witnesses and the evidence, were below the recommendations for aggravated rape.”
What was needed was a “fundamental rethink” of the way in which the justice system deals with sexual violence, it added.
“Society as a whole – police, justice, and politicians – can no longer ignore victims,” said Mailfert. “It is urgent to adopt a framework law for comprehensive protection against sexual and gender-based violence.”
