Gisele Pelicot says she has 'no fear' of a new trial if some of her rapists appeal - but reveals why she does not want to be an 'icon'
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Gisele Pelicot, the French woman whose ex-husband was jailed for 20 years for orchestrating and committing mass rapes against her with dozens of strangers, has no fear of a new trial if there is an appeal, her lawyer said Friday, but warned that she does not want to be seen as an 'icon'.
![[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]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/20/13/93353717-0-image-a-2_1734702073363.jpg)
The 72-year-old has been hailed as a hero and feminist icon for her courage and dignity in the over three-month historic trial that ended Thursday with all 51 defendants, including her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, being convicted. Gisele Pelicot said afterwards that she respected the verdicts of the court, although her elder son on Friday said that while satisfied with his father's sentence, he was 'disappointed' by the leniency of the other verdicts.
![[The 72-year-old has been hailed as a hero and feminist icon for her courage and dignity in the over three-month historic trial that ended Thursday with all 51 defendants, including her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, being convicted]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/20/13/93353713-0-image-a-3_1734702079440.jpg)
After Gisele Pelicot described the process as a 'difficult ordeal', she risks having to go through another trial, with two defendants already lodging an appeal. Beatrice Zavarro, Dominique Pelicot's lawyer, said he has not ruled out doing the same, which would mean challenging his 20-year prison sentence for orchestrating and committing the mass rape of his now-ex wife.
![[Gisele Pelicot, the victim of a mass rape orchestrated by her then-husband Dominique Pelicot at their home in the southern French town of Mazan, talks to journalists, surrounded by relatives and her lawyers, after the verdict in the trial for Dominique Pelicot and 50 co-accused, at the courthouse in Avignon, France, December 19, 2024]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/20/09/93347027-14213261-image-a-1_1734685874153.jpg)
Under French law, defendants have an automatic right to force a retrial through right of appeal. Speaking outside court after the sentences were handed out yesterday, Dominuque Pelicot's lawyer said her client was 'stunned' at the judges' decision to hand him the maximum sentence, as well as the suggestion that he could be kept in longer if he was still considered a security threat.
![[This court-sketch made on December 19, 2024 in Avignon shows the court during the hearing of the verdict of the court that sentenced Dominique Pelicot to the maximum term of 20 years jail]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/12/20/09/93347029-14213261-image-a-2_1734685876729.jpg)
