20-year term sought in French mass rape trial for husband who drugged wife

AVIGNON – 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 shocked France.
READ: ‘I’m broken’, mass rape victim tells French court
Dominique Pelicot has been on trial in the southern city of Avignon since September with 49 other men for organising the rapes and sexual abuse of Gisele Pelicot, now his former wife. One man is being tried in absentia.
The case has sparked horror, protests and a debate about male violence in France. On Saturday, tens of thousands staged demonstrations across the country against violence targeting women.
A prosecutor told the court Monday 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 in calling for the sentence.
“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 charges against him. The 71-year-old plied his wife with anti-anxiety drugs from 2011 to 2020 at their home in the village of Mazan, then strangers recruited online raped and abused her. 
He documented the crimes in photos and videos discovered by police after being caught filming up women’s skirts in public.
Prosecutors must also demand punishments for the other defendants: men aged 26 to 74 from all walks of life.
“It’s a very emotional moment,” said Gisele Pelicot.
– ‘Before and after’ –
Prime Minister Michel Barnier called the trial a watershed moment for the country’s efforts to combat violence against women.
“I’m convinced that the Mazan trial will mark a before and after,” Barnier said, marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
“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.
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 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 were slated to take three  days, with prosecutors estimating an average of 15 minutes per defendant.  
Most, including Dominique Pelicot, are charged with aggravated rape.
– ‘Shame changes sides’ –
One of Gisele Pelicot’s lawyers, Antoine Camus, has called for “truth and justice” to be rendered to Gisele Pelicot, her children, David, Caroline and Florian, and her grandchildren.
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.
Prosecutors also demanded ten-year prison sentences for several other co-defendants including those not charged with aggravated rape.
Mayet demanded four years’ imprisonment for Joseph C., 69, the only one of the defendants not to be prosecuted for rape or attempted aggravated 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.
The verdicts and sentencing are expected by 20 December at the latest.
By David Courbet, Philippe Siuberski And Isabelle Wesselingh