Gisele Pelicot Went Public in French Rape Case, and it Made All the Difference

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USA Today
By David Oliver
12/19/24

Gisele Pelicot Went Public in French Rape Case, and it Made All the Difference

"Immense courage." "Unbelievable." "The world is no longer the same."

These are some of the reactions the came after a French court on Thursday sentenced Dominique Pelicot, the ex-husband of 72-year-old Gisele Pelicot, to 20 years imprisonment for repeatedly drugging her and recruiting men to rape her while she was unconscious in a case that stunned France and the world. Dominique Pelicot was convicted of aggravated rape and other charges along with 50 other men. The case was the largest rape trial in French history and shocked the nation's conscience.

The abuse against Gisele Pelicot, a grandmother who believed she was in a loving marriage, lasted nearly a decade. Her husband sedated her with sleeping pills and filmed the men abusing her.

She requested the trial take place in open court because she wanted the world to know what had happened to her. She attended every day of the trial in Avignon, a city in southeastern France, surrounded by her family. In doing so, she became a symbol for many sexual assault survivors.

"The immense courage of Gisele Pelicot can only be celebrated and properly rewarded by publicly and eternally exposing the faces, names and professions of all the 50 men who have been found guilty for their crimes," one X user wrote. "I hope the case sets an example for all future sexual crimes." Another added: "Gisele Pelicot is one of the bravest women I have ever heard of, and her saying that all she can think of are other victims in the shadows who have the same struggle − this woman is unbelievable what an amazing act of courage and grace."

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