Maximum term sought in French mass rape trial for husband who drugged wife

French prosecutors on Monday demanded a maximum 20-year jail term for the man charged with enlisting dozens of strangers to rape his heavily sedated wife, in a trial that has shaken France.

Dominique Pelicot has been on trial in the southern city of Avignon since September with 49 other men for organizing the rapes and sexual abuse of Gisele Pelicot, now his former wife. One man is being tried in absentia.

The case has shocked France, which like other countries has seen a series of sexual abuse cases, and a prosecutor told the court that the trial needed to herald a fundamental change in relations between men and women.

"Twenty years is a lot because it is 20 years of a life," prosecutor Laure Chabaud said.

"But it is both a lot and too little. Too little in view of the seriousness of the acts that were committed and repeated."

Dominique Pelicot has admitted all the charges linked to his plying Gisele Pelicot with anti-anxiety drugs from 2011 to 2020, leaving her exposed to abuse by strangers recruited online.

He documented the crimes in photos and videos discovered by police after being caught filming up women's skirts in public.

"It's a very emotional moment," said Gisele Pelicot as she entered the courtroom.

'Fundamentally change'

Prosecutors must also demand punishments for the other defendants: men aged 26 to 74 from all walks of life.

"This trial is shaking up our society in our relationship with each other, in the most intimate relationships between human beings," said Jean-Francois Mayet, the other prosecutor.

French society has "to understand our needs, our emotions, our desires and above all to take into account those of others," he said.

What is at stake, he added, "is not a conviction or an acquittal" but "to fundamentally change the relations between men and women".

Many accused argued in court that they believed Dominique Pelicot's claim they were participating in a libertine fantasy, in which his then-wife had consented to sexual contact and was only pretending to be asleep.

Among them, 33 have also claimed they were not in their right minds when they abused or raped Gisele Pelicot -- a defence not backed by any psychological report compiled by court-appointed experts.

"In 2024, we can no longer say 'since she said nothing, she agreed'," said Chabaud. "The absence of consent could not be ignored by the defendants."

Sentencing requests are slated to take three full days, with prosecutors estimating an average of 15 minutes per defendant.

Most, including Dominique Pelicot, are charged with aggravated rape.

"The facts, and the personality of each accused, were taken into account even in our sentencing demands", Mayet said.

'You were right'

As 11 weeks of hearings ended last week, one of Gisele Pelicot's lawyers, Antoine Camus, called for "truth and justice" to be rendered to the woman, her children, David, Caroline and Florian, and her grandchildren.

The judges will not issue their ruling until late December.

Prosecutors requested a 17-year prison sentence for one defendant Jean-Pierre M., 63, who applied Dominique Pelicot's practices against his own wife to rape her a dozen times, sometimes in the presence of Pelicot.

On the last occasion, Jean-Pierre's wife woke up. "I ask my husband what's going on. He says it's to see my underwear and then he gets caught up in his lies," said his wife, Cilia M., who did not press charges to protect their five children, one of whom is disabled.

Of the remaining accused, 35 deny taking part in a rape.

Observers will be watching whether prosecutors ask for heavier penalties for those who came to rape Gisele multiple times than for those who answered Dominique Pelicot's invitation once.

The trial has made Gisele Pelicot, who insisted the hearings be held in public, a feminist icon in the fight of women against sexual abuse.

Prosecutor Mayet praised the "courage" and "dignity" of Gisele Pelicot, the victim of some 200 repeated rapes, half of which were attributed to her ex-husband.

Mayet thanked her for allowing hearings to be held in public and allowing some of the approximately 20,000 photos and videos taken without her knowledge by Dominique Pelicot to be shown.

"You were right, madam: the past few weeks have shown the importance of showing this, so that shame changes sides," he added.