Judges in the French city of Avignon will hand down their verdicts on Thursday for the 51 men who raped Giselle Pélicot, the 72-year-old who society has turned into a feminist icon for her strength to look into the eyes and confront all her abusers.

For almost a decade, Giselle he was drugged by her ex-husband Dominic, who then brought dozens of men he had recruited online to their home to rape her while she was unconscious. It was her decision to waive her anonymity and bring this trial to light – and in her words, to “it transfers the shame from the victim to the perpetrators”.

Although they admit the charges against them, most of the defendants on trial deny that what they did was rape. Prosecutors asked for prison terms ranging from 4 to 20 years, the maximum penalty for aggravated rape. One of the defendants, who has admitted the charges, said the trial was rushed and “poorly made”. Activists say this case demonstrates the need to incorporate consent into France’s rape lawsas in other European countries.

How the case unfolded

From 2011 to 2020, Dominic Pelico was secretly giving his wife with sedative drugs and sleeping pills. She powdered them and added them to her food and drink. Giselle had memory loss and fainting spells due to the medication and spoke of 10 years of her life being lost.

Eventually, her husband was arrested after a security guard reported him to the police for taking pictures up women’s skirts in a supermarket.

“I thought we were a close couple,” he once said in court. Instead, her husband would log onto a notorious but now-banned website called Coco.fr to invite men to their home to have sex with her while she was unconscious. “I sacrificed myself on the altar of immorality”Peliko stated at the beginning of the trial.

Since early September, Judge Roger Arata and his four colleagues heard how 50 men, aged 27 to 74 yearsthey visited the house of the Pelikos in the village of Mazan.

What are the categories?

Dominic Pelico admitted all charges against him and the prosecutors want the judges to impose the maximum prison sentence of 20 years for felony rape. “I’m in a hurry”he has told the judges. “I recognize all the facts in their entirety”. He begged his ex-wife and three children for forgiveness, but his actions have torn the family apart.

The rest of the defendants come from all walks of life and most of them are within a radius of 50 kilometers from the village of Mazan of Peliko. Among them are firefighters, security guards and truck drivers. Most of them also have children. 50 of the 51 are accused of aggravated rape and attempted rape.

Romain V, 63, faces up to 18 years in prison if convicted. It is alleged that he raped Giselle six times while he knew he was HIV positive. His lawyer says he could not have transmitted the virus as he had undergone chronic treatment.

Another 10 men face sentences 15-17 years old, while prosecutors are seeking prison terms 10-14 years old for 38 of the rest.

One of the few men who admitted rape told the BBC through his daughter that the outcome of the trial had been predetermined. “There wasn’t enough time. For me, this was all bad work”he argued. It is noted that the average prison sentence for rape in France is 11.1 years.

A man is accused of aggravated sexual assault and not for rape. Prosecutors say Joseph C, a 69-year-old retired coach and grandfather, should face the lesser sentence of 4 years in prison. Some of them apologized for their behavior, but many did not. Cyril B said he was sorry. “I’m ashamed of myself, I’m disgusted,” Jean-Pierre M said this week. His lawyer hoped the judges would take his remorse into account.

Because it is an unusual case

Not only was this case conducted in public view, but the evidence against all defendants was videotaped by Dominic Pelico at the time and subsequently played in court.

Giselle Pelico, who is divorced from her husband, said that the men “I was treated like a rag.”

“Don’t talk to me about sex scenes. These are rape scenes,” he said. Hence none of the accused could dispute the claim that they were in the room while she was unconscious. Their defense relied on the definition of rapebecause it currently includes any type of sexual penetration “by force, coercion, threat or surprise”. That means prosecutors have to prove intent to rape.

Prosecutor Laure Chabaud told the court that no one can now say that “since she didn’t say anything (at the time of the rape), she gave her consent – that belongs to a bygone era.” Thousands of people took part in protests in support of Giselle in France. And women stand outside the court every day shouting one of the phrases her lawyers said in court: “Shame changes sides.”

Giselle Pelico

Why Gisele Pelico became a feminist icon

Giselle Pelico attended almost every day of the trial, appearing in court wearing her sunglasses. Her decision to give up her anonymity is extremely unusual, but she stood firm through it all. “I want all the women who have been victims of rape to say: Mrs. Peliko did it, I can too.”

But she herself has made it clear that behind the facade of her strength is hidden a pile of rubble and despite widespread acclaim for what she has done, she is a reluctant heroine.

“She keeps repeating: ‘I’m normal’, she doesn’t want to be seen as an idol” her lawyer Stéphane Babonneau told the BBC. “Women in general have a strength within them that they can’t even imagine and they have to trust themselves. This is her message.”

How the case shook France

The lawyers of the 51 defendants emphasized that it was people next dooralthough court-appointed psychiatrist Laurent Layet testified that he was not “neither ordinary but neither monsters”. In the first weeks of the trial, the then mayor of the village of Mazan told the BBC that “the case could have been even more serious, nobody died”. But these comments caused outcry throughout France and the mayor apologized. He has since announced his retirement from public life.

The fact that the trial was held in public meant that each meeting was reported at length and in detail. Elsa Labouret from the activist group Dare to be Feminist told the BBC: “Giselle Pelico decided to put the case above herself. To make it about the way we, as a society, deal with sexual violence.”