Brave Gisele Pelicot 'changed the game but still didn't get justice,' charities blast
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Gisèle Pélicot's case has held a mirror to universal rape culture, showing how the most depraved can live among us with impunity, with charities saying it has revealed the 'banality of rapists'. The verdicts came in today, with a total of 51 men being handed prison sentences for raping 72-year-old Gisele, who was drugged by her own husband and raped 92 times by strangers he invited into their bedroom between 2011 and 2020. The mother-of-three was unknowingly sedated and sexually abused dozens of times at their family home in Mazan, a commune in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.
Her former husband of 50 years, Dominique Pélicot, 71, received the longest sentence - being jailed for 20 years. The rapist led a sick campaign of abuse against his wife, running an online chatroom titled 'without her knowledge' where he would advertise for men to perform vile sexual acts on his unwitting wife.
A total of 50 accomplices were found guilty on charges including aggravated rape and sexual assault, with sentences ranging between 13 and five years (with two suspended) in prison. Women's rights groups such as Refuge and Centre for Women's Justice (CWJ) have slammed the verdicts for the men and said the case has revealed the ordinary nature of rapists - they aren't just deplorable strangers waiting to attack, and can be our neighbours and the people in our supermarkets, hospitals, neighbourhoods.
These men came from all walks of life, including civil servants, ambulance workers, soldiers, prison guards, nurses, truck drivers, a journalist, a DJ and a municipal councillor. Many of them are fathers and husbands, and some have partners standing by them.
