Gisele Pelicot, the French woman whose ex-husband was handed a prison sentence of 20 years for orchestrating and committing mass rapes against her with dozens of strangers, has no fear of a new trial if defendants appeal, her lawyer said yesterday.
Pelicot, 72, has been hailed as a hero and feminist icon for her courage and dignity in the three-month trial that ended on Thursday, with all 51 defendants, including her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, being convicted.
However, after she described the process as a “difficult ordeal,” she risks having to go through another trial with two defendants already lodging an appeal and the lawyer of her ex-husband not ruling out doing the same.
Photo: AP
“In any case, she is not afraid of it. If it were to happen, she has already indicated to us that she would face it — if she is healthy, obviously, since she is a lady who is now 72,” Stephane Babonneau, one of her lawyers, told France Inter radio.
Asked about his client’s state of mind, Babonneau said: “She was very happy to go home. She is very relieved.”
“What she doesn’t want is for other victims to think ‘this lady has extraordinary strength, I couldn’t do that’,” he said. “She doesn’t want to be seen as an icon. She doesn’t want to be seen as someone extraordinary. And in reality, she is someone who remains very simple and who has decided to try to live her life in the most normal way.”
Dozens of other defendants — the men who visited the Pelicot family home to rape Gisele Pelicot as she lay unconscious after being drugged by her husband — were handed terms of between three and 15 years.
Dominique Pelicot would not be eligible for parole until he has served two-thirds of his sentence.
However, that was in all cases less than what prosecutors had sought. Six of the defendants had their jail terms partly suspended, including two of the defendants who received the lowest terms of three years.
Only the sentence given to Dominique Pelicot was fully in line with prosecutors’ requests.
Six accused were allowed to walk free from the court, having served their time during pre-trial detention.
Women’s rights groups and the three Pelicot children, expressed disappointment, saying that the sentences were too lenient, sources said.
However, Gisele Pelicot said: “I respect the court and the decision of its verdict.”
She also said that she “never regretted” opening the trial to the public and was now thinking of the “unrecognized victims whose stories often remain in the shadows.”
“I now have confidence in our capacity to find a better future where everyone — women and men alike — can live in harmony with respect and mutual understanding,” she said.
“The court has proved Gisele Pelicot right: shame can change sides,” the Women’s Foundation said.
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