PARIS (Reuters) – Dominique Pelicot, sentenced to 20 years in jail by a French court for repeatedly drugging and raping his then-wife Gisele for almost a decade and inviting dozens of strangers to rape her, will not appeal, his lawyer said on Monday, although a new trial will take place as 17 co-defendants have appealed.
Gisele Pelicot, 72, has become a symbol of female courage and resilience during the three-month trial of her now ex-husband and his 50 co-defendants, in a case that has horrified the world. All were found guilty by the court on Dec. 19.
“He decided not to appeal, because he says it would be a new ordeal and new confrontations for his wife, who he always said in the debates was not his adversary,” Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer Beatrice Zavarro said on FranceInfo Radio.
Dominique Pelicot, who was married to Gisele for 50 years, had pleaded guilty and the panel of five judges gave him the maximum sentence, as requested by prosecutors.
The court found 46 of the other defendants guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape and two guilty of sexual assault, handing down sentences of between three and 15 years in jail, less than the four-to-18 years demanded by the prosecution.
Seventeen have so far said they will appeal, and the others have until midnight on Monday to decide.
They come from all walks of life: lorry drivers, soldiers, firefighters, security guards, farm workers, a supermarket worker, a journalist and the unemployed.
Many of the accused had denied the charges, saying they thought it was a consensual sex game orchestrated by the couple and arguing that it was not rape if the husband approved.
Dominique Pelicot, 72, denied misleading the men, whom he had met online, saying they knew exactly what they were doing.
The trial has triggered protest rallies around France in support of Gisele, and spurred soul searching, including a debate on whether to update France’s rape law, which at present makes no mention that sex should involve consent.
Gisele Pelicot said she was not afraid of a new trial, her lawyer said earlier this month.
“She is not afraid. If it should happen, she has already told us she would cope — if she’s in good health, of course, because she is 72 today,” her lawyer said.
(Reporting by Michel Rose; editing by Ingrid Melander and Ros Russell)
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