Pelicot trial: Here's what you need to know about the mass rape trial

Judges have delivered verdicts on the defendants in a case that turned a 72-year-old woman into a feminist icon.

British Broadcasting CorporationWatch LiveHomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationCultureArtsTravelEarthVideoLiveHomeNewsIsrael-Gaza WarWar in UkraineUS & CanadaUKUK PoliticsEnglandN. IrelandN. Ireland PoliticsScotlandScotland PoliticsWalesWales PoliticsAfricaAsiaChinaIndiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastIn PicturesBBC InDepthBBC VerifySportBusinessExecutive LoungeTechnology of BusinessFuture of BusinessInnovationTechnologyScience & HealthArtificial IntelligenceAI v the MindCultureFilm & TVMusicArt & DesignStyleBooksEntertainment NewsArtsArts in MotionTravelDestinationsAfricaAntarcticaAsiaAustralia and PacificCaribbean & BermudaCentral AmericaEuropeMiddle EastNorth AmericaSouth AmericaWorld’s TableCulture & ExperiencesAdventuresThe SpeciaListEarthNatural WondersWeather & ScienceClimate SolutionsSustainable BusinessGreen LivingVideoLiveLive NewsLive SportHomeNewsSportBusinessInnovationCultureArtsTravelEarthVideoLiveAudioWeatherNewslettersHere's what you need to know about the Pelicot trialCLEMENT MAHOUDEAU/AFPIt was Gisèle Pelicot's decision to open the case to the public that has given the trial international significanceJudges in the French city of Avignon have sentenced Dominique Pelicot to 20 years in prison for aggravated rape after he drugged and abused his then wife, Gisèle Pelicot, and invited dozens of strangers to rape her.

Dominique stood accused alongside 50 other men. Of the 50 co-defendants found guilty, 46 were found guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape, and two guilty of sexual assault.

For almost a decade, Gisèle Pelicot was unknowingly given sedatives by her ex-husband, who has admitted to raping her and inviting men he had recruited online to have sex with her in her bed at home while she was unconscious and unaware.

Although Dominique Pelicot admitted the charges against him, most of the other men on trial denied what they did was rape.

It was Gisèle's decision to waive her anonymity and throw this trial into the open - in her words, making "shame swap sides" from the victim to the rapist - something which has turned the 72-year-old into a feminist icon.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c390d8nd4n4o

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