Dominique Pelicot trial: How Gisèle Pelicot inspired a generation with fearless testimony
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Dominique Pelicot's rape trial outcome has the world transfixed today, with his wife Gisèle finally receiving a measure of justice for his sick crimes. French courts returned guilty verdicts on Pelicot, 72, and the 50 other men aged between 26 and 74 accused of raping Ms Pelicot, 72, at her home in Mazan, southern France, while she was drugged by her ex-husband. Ms Pelicot became a national hero after she refused to be victimised and waived an anonymity order that would have kept her name private.
Waiving the order, she declared: "It’s not for us to have shame, it’s for them." She said she wanted to make "shame swap sides" from victim to rapist, a move that has made her an internationally-celebrated feminist icon, and ignited a globe-spanning conversation about sexual violence.
The Pelicot rape trial began on September 2 this year, nearly two years after French police made Ms Pelicot aware of videos showing dozens of men raping her at the couple's home while she was unconscious. Investigators had seized Pelicot's devices after he was caught filming up the skirts of women in a supermarket in Carpentras, a town nearby Mazan.
He was arrested on September 12, 2020, and Ms Pelicot was made aware of the footage just over two months later on November 2. She moved out of the couple's home a day after police said they believed her husband had drugged her and invited the men who raped her to their home.
Police made the first arrests of the dozens of other men charged in the case in 2021, and the trial began earlier this year with testimony from Ms Pelicot, who took to the stand following her decision to make the trial public. She vowed to change the way society handles rape in a heartfelt statement.
