Rape Trial Verdicts

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 11:35:37 +0000

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20-Year Sentence for Husband of Gisèle Pelicot as 51 Men Found Guilty in Mass Rape

... in mass rape trial | BBC News

Judges 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.

Reeta Chakrabarti presents BBC News at Ten reporting by Andrew Harding in Avignon.

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