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.”
Gisèle Pelicot’s remarks in full – video
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has added his voice to the many who have hailed Gisèle Pelicot and her tremendous courage in making the case against her ex-husband public.
“What dignity,” Sánchez wrote in a social media post that included a photo of Pelicot, her head held high. “Thank you, Gisèle Pelicot. May shame change sides.”
Since the trial began in September, Gisèle Pelicot has been held up as a feminist hero, commended for her courage at rallies across France and applauded by supporters each time she enters or leaves the courtroom in the southern city of Avignon.
Tributes to her have also poured in from around the world, hinting at the role she has played in galvanising a global conversation on sexual violence.
On Thursday the 72-year-old at the centre of the horrifying trial expressed her “profound gratitude towards the people who supported me.”
Speaking to reporters after the court announced its decisions, she added: “Your messages moved me deeply, and they gave me the strength to come back, every day, and survive through these long daily hearings.”
Supporters of Gisèle Pelicot outside courtroom - video
The Guardian’s video team has put together this look at the feminist activists and supporters of Gisèle Pelicot who gathered outside the courtroom today.
The crowd erupted in cheers after it was announced that Dominique Pelicot had been convicted on charges that included aggravated rape of Gisèle Pelicot.
Soon after, as it emerged that some of the sentences handed down to Pelicot’s co-defendants were lower than those demanded by the state prosecutor, they chanted “Shame on justice.”
The 20-year sentence for Dominique Pelicot, while the maximum possible, was not enough, said one woman. “I hope there will be a before and an after of this trial for all victims of domestic, sexual and sexist violence,” she added.
The trial had left many questions unanswered, said one man. “In a way, it’s our society that is on trial. That and masculinity,” he said.
The number of defendants was so “massive” that one had to wonder about how men behave in society. “How is this even possible?” he asked.
Reactions to the trial have poured in on social media from across France’s political spectrum:
Marie Lebec, an MP and spokeswoman for Emmanuel Macron’s Together for the Republic alliance, has said that her thoughts are with Gisèle Pelicot.
She wrote:
As the verdict is handed down in the Mazan rape trial, I’m thinking of Gisèle Pélicot, her courage, her dignity, the example she has set.
Huge respect for this woman, whose courage shines far beyond this trial. Let us hope that, following her example, we will always better protect women against sexual violence.”
Manuel Bompard, the national coordinator of the far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, wrote:
The Mazan rape trial will remain a historic trial. It must be a turning point in the fight against the rape culture that is eating away at our society as a whole. Admiration for Gisèle Pelicot, her courage, her strength and her determination. Thank you, Madame.”
Valérie Pécresse of the conservative Les Républicains, a former minister and presidential candidate who is currently president of the Île-de-France region that includes Paris, said:
“The verdict of the Mazan trial has been delivered!
Infinite respect for Gisèle Pelicot who stood tall, dignified and admirably courageous in the face of her tormentors, notably the predator with whom she shared her life for decades.
Her refusal to hold a closed trial so that ‘shame changes sides’ is a service to society and a signal to millions of young girls and women to encourage them to no longer remain silent in the face of assaults, rapes and all forms of sexist and sexual violence.
So simply: Thank you, Mme Pelicot!”
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has joined the many who have hailed Gisèle Pelicot and her tremendous courage in opening the trial to the public.
“The shame must change sides. Thank you, Gisèle Pelicot!” Scholz wrote on social media. “You courageously went from anonymity into the public eye and fought for justice. You gave women around the world a strong voice. The shame always lies with the perpetrator.”
The Socialist senator, Laurence Rossignol, a former French minister for family and women’s rights, has joined those expressing frustration over the fact that some of the sentences handed down were lower than those demanded by the state prosecutor.
“No acquittals, all are guilty of rape (except one),” she wrote. “However, the gap between the sentences the prosecutor called for and several of the sentences handed down is disappointing and significant.”
Earlier today, those gathered outside of the courtroom in Avignon chanted “Shame on justice,” in a show of anger seemingly directed at this discrepancy.
The Pelicot children also believe that the verdicts handed down to the other 50 men on trial were too mild, a family member told news agency Agence France-Presse.
Gisèle Pelicot is being greeted by thundering applause and cheers as she makes her way out of the courthouse in Avignon, images broadcast by BFMTV show.
“Merci Gisèle,” the crowd is chanting.
Gisèle Pelicot says she has never regretted her decision to go public
Gisèle Pelicot has spoken briefly to reporters outside the courtroom, saying that she respects the court and the decision it made, in her first remarks since the court handed down its verdicts and sentences.
“It is with profound emotion that I am here, the trial was a very difficult ordeal,” she said, reading from a prepared statement.
She said that she was thinking of her three children and her grandchildren. “Because they are the future, it is also for them that I took on this battle.”
She continued: “I’m also thinking of the many victims who are not recognised, whose stories often remain in the shadows. I want you to know that we share the same battle.”
She noted that her thoughts were also with the other families affected by this case and expressed gratitude to the many who had supported her.
She added:
When I opened the doors to this trial on 2 September, I wanted society to be able to take part in this debate. I have never regretted that decision.
I have confidence in our ability to collectively grasp a future in which everyone, women and men alike, can live in harmony, with mutual respect and understanding.”
Updated
Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for drugging his then wife, Gisèle, and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the south of France over almost a decade.
The historic trial of 51 men was held in public after Gisèle Pelicot waived her right to anonymity so that “shame could change sides”.
Alongside Dominique Pelicot, guilty verdicts were returned on Thursday for all the accused men including a nurse, a soldier, a journalist, a prison warden and delivery drivers, aged from 26 to 74. Forty-seven were convicted of rape, two of attempted rape and two of sexual assault.
Pelicot’s co-defendants received jail terms of between three and 15 years. Two of these men had their jail terms suspended.
Summary of the day so far
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.
The supporters of Gisèle and women’s rights campaigners gathered outside the courtroom in Avignon have chanted “Shame on justice”. Their anger is 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 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.
Pelicot children ’disappointed by low sentences’
The children of Dominique and Gisèle Pelicot believe the verdicts handed down by a French court to the guilty men were too mild, a family member has told news agency Agence France-Presse.
While Dominque Pelicot was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the co-defendants were sentenced to between three and 15 years in jail, with two of the sentences suspended.
“The children are disappointed by these low sentences,” said the family member, who asked not to be identified, after some of the sentences handed down by the panel of judges to the co-defendants were lower than those demanded by the state prosecutor.
Newspaper Libération has described the findings of the court as “a verdict for the future” as it published an image of its Thursday front page.
“At the end of a historic trial that highlighted, in the words of Gisèle Pelicot, ‘the banality of rape,’ the Vaucluse criminal court handed down its decision on the fate of the 51 defendants,” it noted on social media.
The Front féministe international, an umbrella group of 85 feminist collectives that span eight countries, have described Dominique Pelicot’s verdict as “historic.”
In a country where only 10% of victims of sexual violence lodge a complaint and where 94% of these complaints are dismissed, in a country where rapists enjoy virtual impunity, this verdict is historic.”
The scale of the accusations against Dominique Pelicot made it historic, as did the “dignity and courage” of Gisèle Pélicot, it noted in a statement.
“Shame has changed sides. Thank you, Gisèle Pélicot!” it added.
The organisation also noted that another high-profile trial involving allegations of drugging is set to get underway in France.
In November of last year, a centre-right senator, Joël Guerriau, 66, was arrested over allegations that he drugged a member of parliament with the intent to rape or sexually assault her.
The French member of parliament who was allegedly drugged, Sandrine Josso, has described “trembling and sweating” and fearing she was having a heart attack after drinking champagne spiked with ecstasy.
Rémi-Pierre Drai, the lawyer for Guerriau, said that the senator denied any wrongdoing. “Joël Guerriau is not a predator,” Drai said in a statement to the New York Times last year. “He’s an honest, respected and respectable man who will restore his honour and that of his family, however long it takes.”
Updated
Pelicot children 'disappointed by low sentences' in the trial
Pelicot children are “disappointed by low sentences” in the French mass rape trial, news agency Agence France-Presse is reporting.
Updated
Clémence Guetté, the vice-president of France’s national assembly and a member of the far-left Unbowed France (LFI) party has described the trial in Mazan as “historic”.
Writing on social media, she added: “The surge of united feminist feeling that has risen throughout France is a springboard from which we can continue our battle for equality and justice. Let’s continue the fight, for Gisèle and all the others.”
Key event
Fifty other men were on trial alongside Dominique Pelicot, all of whom were found guilty.
Women’s rights campaigners have expressed anger, however, that the sentences handed to most of them were lower than those recommended by the state prosecutor.
My colleague Angelique Chrisafis, who is in the courtroom in Avignon, had this look at some of their sentences:
Charly Arbo, 30, a former vineyard worker who raped Gisèle Pelicot on six occasions, including on her 66th birthday when he was aged 24, was sentenced to 13 years in jail. Video evidence had shown he also proposed drugging and raping his own mother with Dominique Pelicot but he said he did not go through with it.
Romain Vandevelde, 63, a former forklift truck driver who raped Gisèle Pelicot on six occasions over six months between 2019 and 2020, was sentenced to 15 years. He had known he was HIV positive at the time of the alleged rapes and had not worn a condom. His lawyer said that because he had been on HIV treatment since his diagnosis in 2004 he had an undetectable viral load and could not transmit the virus.
Cédric Grassot, a software technician who used to run a record shop in Avignon, was sentenced to 12 years for raping Gisèle Pelicot at her home in 2017. During the trial, he had turned to Gisèle Pelicot in court, and said: “I was your rapist. I was your torturer.”
Jean-Pierre M., 63, former lorry driver for an agricultural cooperative in southern France, was sentenced to 12 years for using the same technique to drug and rape his own wife, and organising for Pelicot to rape her with him.
The supporters of Gisèle and women’s rights campaigners gathered outside the courtroom in Avignon have begun chanting “Shame on justice”.
Their anger is seemingly directed at the fact that some of the sentences handed down by the panel of judges were lower than those demanded by the state prosecutor.
Dominique Pelicot's lawyer says he is considering whether to appeal the sentence
Béatrice Zavarro, the lawyer for Dominique Pelicot, has spoken to reporters, stressing that her client has 10 days to appeal against the sentence and is considering doing so.
No decision has been taken yet on whether to appeal, Zavarro added.
Updated
Manon Aubry, a member of the European Parliament and leading figure from the far-left Unbowed France (LFI) party, has said the trial in Mazan will “forever embody the fight against rape culture.”
Writing on social media, she added:
A trial for posterity, one that should make us think about the attackers, the treatment of victims, and the notion of consent, in a country where the overwhelming majority of victims never obtain justice. So that shame can definitely change sides! Thank you Gisèle.”
The president of the French national assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, has posted on social media following the verdicts:
“Thank you for your courage, Gisèle Pelicot,” she wrote. “Through you, the voices of so many victims are being heard today, shame is changing sides, the taboo has been broken. The world is no longer the same, thanks to you.”
Updated
A few photos from the courtroom in Avignon, snapped ahead of the judges’ announcement that all 51 defendants have been found guilty:
The panel of judges has declared all of the 51 defendants in France’s mass rape trial to be guilty, after a three month trial that sent shockwaves around the world.
At the centre of the case was Dominique Pelicot who admitted to drugging his then-wife, Gisèle Pelicot, for almost a decade, offering up her unconscious body for sex to dozens of strangers he had met online and filming the abuse.
The judges found him guilty on charges that included aggravated rape, sentencing him to the maximum 20 years in prison.
As news of his sentence spread, a cheer rang out outside the courtroom where supporters of Gisèle and women’s rights campaigners have gathered.
The French court also found 46 of the other defendants guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape and two guilty of sexual assault.
All 51 men on trial found guilty
The panel of five judges has found all of the 51 men on trial guilty, Reuters reports.
Fifty other men were accused alongside Dominique Pelicot, most of whom denied the charges. The French court found 46 of them guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape and two guilty of sexual assault.
One man is on the run and being tried in his absence.
The presiding judge told the court that sentencing would be announced after all the verdicts had been delivered.
Updated
Those on trial included one man who did not rape Gisèle Pelicot but repeatedly abused his own wife with the help of Dominique Pelicot.
BFMTV is reporting that the panel of five judges has also found this man guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced him to 12 years in prison.
20 of the men on trial so far found guilty
Along with Dominique Pelicot, the panel of judges also announced convictions for a first batch of 20 of 50 of the co-defendants in the case, Reuters reports.
The 20 men, all of whom were accused of being recruited by Pelicot to rape his then-wife, after she had been drugged over the course of about a decade, were found guilty of rape by a court in Avignon on Thursday.
The presiding judge told the court that sentencing would be announced after all the verdicts had been delivered.
Dominique Pelicot sentenced to 2o years in prison
The panel of five judges have sentenced Dominique Pelicot to 20 years in prison.
Prosecutors asked that he get the maximum penalty after he admitted that, for nearly a decade, he had drugged his wife of 50 years so that he and strangers he recruited online could abuse her while he filmed the assaults.
Fifty men besides Dominique Pelicot are on trial, including one who did not rape Gisele Pelicot but repeatedly abused his own wife with Dominique Pelicot’s help.
More than 20 other suspects remain at large as investigators had not managed to identify them before the start of the mass trial.
The prosecution has requested 10 to 18 years in prison against the 49 defendants also charged with aggravated rape. One of these accused is on the run and being tried in absentia.
One more accused - facing the lesser charge of groping - is facing up to four years in prison.
Reuters reports that the court has found at least 20 defendants guilty of rape.
The German daily newspaper, Die Tageszeitung, has paid tribute to Gisèle Pelicot on its cover today, accompanying a picture of her with the word “Merci”.
The trial saw some 165 media outlets – including 76 foreign ones – reportedly seek accreditation.
French TV cameras outside the courtroom in Avignon have captured the cries of joy that rang out as those gathered there – many of them supporters of Gisèle Pelicot and feminist campaigners – learned that Dominique Pelicot has been found guilty of aggravated rape of Gisèle Pelicot.
Dominique Pelicot convicted of aggravated rape
The panel of five judges have convicted Dominique Pelicot of aggravated rape of Gisèle Pelicot.
He was also convicted of making and distributing pictures and images of Gisèle Pelicot.
Dominique Pelicot has also been found guilty of making and distributing sexual images of his adult daughter Caroline and the wives of his sons. The sentence is to follow after.
Updated
Ahead of the verdicts, the men charged alongside Dominique Pelicot were given the chance to make final statements on Monday. Around half of them simply said “nothing to add”.
Around 15 of them, however, asked Gisèle Pelicot for forgiveness.
“It is indeed your body that I subjected to this rape,” said Cedric G., 51.
“I apologise to Mrs Pelicot, I regret it and I ask her forgiveness,” declared Romain V., 63, one of four accused who responded six times to the invitation that Dominique Pelicot posted online.
Another accused who went six times to the Pelicot family home, Jerome V., 46, said that “whatever sentence” he is given at the end of the week, he will not appeal, “out of respect for the victim, so that she does not have to endure” a new trial. The prosecution has requested a 16-year jail term for him.
Who are the men accused over rape and assault of Gisèle Pelicot?
A total of 51 men are on trial in Avignon, accused of rape and assault alongside Dominique Pelicot. They have little in common; their ages range from 26 to 74, some have children and some have been convicted for other crimes.
Their ranks include a nurse, a journalist, a prison warden, a councillor, a soldier, lorry drivers and farm workers.
Here’s a bit more about the men who are expected to be sentenced today:
Gisèle Pelicot’s children, David, a sales manager, Caroline, a communications manager, and Florian, an actor, have arrived in court to hear the verdict alongside her.
Dominique Pelicot – described by his family as the worst sexual predator in recent French history – called himself a family man. He liked cycling in the French countryside on a Sunday, he took his son and grandson to football matches, and he was good at celebrating birthdays.
“My parents had this talent for organising surprise birthday parties for us,” his eldest son, David, has said. “All our friends would be there, and my friends would say how lucky I was to have a dad like that. Everyone adored him at those parties – my friends saw him as a role model. He danced with my friends, he sat down to eat with my friends, and today those friends don’t understand what’s going on.”
Angelique Chrisafis has this piece that delves into the harrowing case that has sent shockwaves around the world:
Gisèle Pelicot arrives in court
Gisèle Pelicot has arrived in court, ushered in by rousing applause. She’s wearing a silk scarf, sent to her as a gesture of solidarity by an Australian organisation working to raise awareness of sexual assaults on older women.
Updated
A few photos this morning from Avignon, where supporters of Gisèle and women’s rights campaigners have gathered outside the courtroom ahead of the verdicts:
‘It is Gisèle’s name that will be remembered’
Since September, people have lined up outside the courtroom in Avignon, braving the cold, rains and bitter winds to cheer on Gisèle Pelicot.
Pelicot, 72, a former logistics manager and grandmother of seven, has become a feminist hero after insisting that the trial be held in public to raise awareness of the drug-induced rape and abuse. “It’s not for us to have shame, it’s for them,” she has said.
Her courage has helped to galvanise a global conversation on sexual violence and sparked debate in France about whether the legal definition of rape should be expanded to include specific mention of consent.
My colleague Angelique Chrisafis has this piece on the extraordinary bravery and resilience of Gisèle Pelicot:
Updated
Before dawn, members of the public gathered outside the courtroom to support Gisèle Pelicot in the historic rape trial.
“Justice for Gisèle” shouted one feminist campaigner, carrying a sign saying the accused men should be in prison for Christmas.
“Thanks for your bravery Gisèle,” read another sign.
What verdicts are expected?
The panel of five judges are casting their rulings by secret ballot, with a majority vote required to convict and also for the sentences of those found guilty.
They are expected to give Dominique Pelicot, a 72-year-old retired electrician and estate agent, the maximum 20-year jail term.
Prosecutors had demanded the maximum penalty to be applied in his case, with prosecutor Laure Chabaud telling the court: “Twenty years between the four walls of a prison. It’s both a lot and not enough.”
Fifty other men accused alongside him, most of whom deny the charges, face sentences ranging from 10 to 18 years for those accused of aggravated rape and four years for one accused of sexual aggression. One man is on the run and being tried in his absence.
My colleague Kim Willsher has this look at what is expected today:
Sentencing due in Pelicot rape case
Bonjour, good morning.
For the past three and a half months, all eyes have been on a courtroom in Avignon, France, where 51 men are facing trial in a harrowing mass rape case.
At the centre of the case is Dominique Pelicot who has admitted to regularly crushing sleeping tablets and anti-anxiety medication into his unsuspecting wife’s mashed potato, ice-cream, coffee or beer, and inviting dozens of men to come to the couple’s house in a village in Provence to rape her while she was unconscious.
His actions horrified people across France and around the world. But in an extraordinary move, his wife, Gisèle Pelicot waived her anonymity and insisted the trial be open to the press and public. Her incredible bravery turned her into a feminist icon, one credited with shattering the shame that usually accompanies sexual violence.
This morning the trial is expected to come to an end, with verdicts handed down for the 51 men. Follow along as we bring you all the latest developments.
