French prosecutors have recommended the maximum 20-year prison sentence for Dominique Pelicot, who organized the repeated mass rape of his then-wife Gisele Pelicot.
The recommendation is the latest development in a trial that has forced a reckoning in France and beyond about rape and patriarchy.
Dominique Pelicot has admitted the charges of rape. Over a decade he regularly drugged his wife and recruited others online to come to their house and also rape her. He kept a folder labelled “Abuse” on his computer that contained around 20,000 photos and videos of men raping Gisele while she was unconscious.
Fifty other men are also on trial, with many denying the accusations or claiming they were unaware they were committing rape.
Prosecutors have dismissed these claims. “The accused are trying to shirk responsibility by saying they thought Gisele Pelicot consented,” stated public prosecutor Laure Chabaud during Monday’s proceedings.
“But it’s not possible, today, in 2024, to consider that,” she added, pointing to the photographic and video evidence that clearly showed Gisele was unconscious.
Gisele Pelicot has become a feminist hero in France and beyond. She decided that her trial should be conducted publicly, even requesting the photos and video of the abuses be played in the trial to put a spotlight on the perpetrators. “It’s not for us to have shame, it’s for them,” she stated.
In her final statement to court in France Gisele Pelicot was decisive. “It’s time that the macho, patriarchal society that trivialises rape changes … It’s time we changed the way we look at rape.”
French law does not define rape in terms of consent or lack therof, but rather that a perpetrator had intent to rape using “violence, coercion, threat or surprise”.
The final verdicts in the case are expected at the end of December.
