Gisèle Pelicot has paid tribute to sexual violence victims still fighting for recognition in society after her ex-husband and 50 other men were found guilty in the biggest rape trial in French history, reports The Guardian.
As political leaders hailed the trial as a turning point in the battle against rape culture and victim shaming, Pelicot, 72, said on Thursday that she had never regretted her decision to waive her right to anonymity in order to hold the trial in public.
As crowds of supporters gathered in the French city of Avignon to cheer her on, she said outside court that on the final day of the months-long trial she was thinking “of the unrecognised victims, whose stories often remain in the shadows”.
“I want you to know that we share the same fight,” she said. “When I opened the doors to this trial that began on 2 September, I wanted all of society to be a witness to the debates that took place here … I now have confidence in our capacity to find a better future where everyone, women and men alike, can live in harmony with respect and mutual understanding.”
Her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for drugging her and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the south of France over almost a decade of their marriage. The presiding judge, Roger Arata, said the 72-year-old would not be eligible for parole until he had served two-thirds of his sentence.
Guilty verdicts were also returned for all the accused men, including a nurse, a soldier, a journalist, a prison warden and delivery drivers, aged from 26 to 74. Forty-seven were convicted of rape, two of attempted rape and two of sexual assault.
Praising her bravery, international leaders rushed to thank Gisèle Pelicot for refusing to be shamed and exposing the pervasiveness of sexual violence.
“Thank you, Gisèle Pelicot!” the German chancellor, Olaf Scholzwrote. “You courageously went from anonymity to a public figure and fought for justice. You gave women around the world a strong voice. The shame always lies with the perpetrator.”
The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said: “What dignity. Thank you, Gisèle Pelicot.”