Gisèle Pelicot thanks backers after her ex-husband and his co-defendants are convicted in rape trial
Gisèle Pelicot said after 51 men were convicted in the drugging-and-rape trial that riveted France and turned her into an icon that the ordeal was “very difficult” and expressed support for other victims of sexual violence
AVIGNON, France (AP) — Gisèle Pelicot spoke of her “very difficult ordeal” after 51 men were convicted Thursday in the drugging-and-rape trial that riveted France and turned her into an icon, expressing support for other victims whose cases don't get such attention and “whose stories remain untold.”
“I want you to know that we share the same fight,” she said in her first words after the court in the southern French city of Avignon handed down prison sentences ranging from three to 20 years in the shocking case that spurred a national reckoning about the blight of rape culture.
Pelicot's ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, and all but one of his co-defendants were convicted of sexually assaulting her over a period of nearly a decade after he'd knocked her unconscious by lacing her food and drink with drugs. The other co-defendant was convicted of drugging and raping his own wife with Dominique Pelicot's help.
As campaigners against sexual violence protested outside the courthouse, the 72-year-old Gisèle Pelicot expressed “my profound gratitude towards the people who supported me."
