French prosecutors have demanded that Dominique Pelicot be jailed for 20 years, the maximum available sentence, for having drugged and raped his wife, Gisèle, and invited at least 70 strangers to rape and abuse her over a decade, reports The Guardian.
The demand came as the French government unveiled new measures to combat violence against women, including raising awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse.
The assistant state prosecutor Laure Chabaud said the sentence sought against Pelicot was “at the same time long but not long enough given the gravity of the facts that were committed and repeated”.
“His search for pleasure was reflected in a desire to subjugate his wife, to humiliate and even degrade through his actions and words the person he cherished most in the world,” Chabaud told the court in Avignon where Pelicot and 50 other men have been on trial since September.
Pelicot has admitted the charges. Most of the others have admitted abusing Gisèle Pelicot but denied rape, suggesting they thought they were taking part in a couple’s fantasy.
The lawyers for 33 have made a special plea that their clients were acting under diminished responsibility.
On the 50th day of the hearing, the lead public prosecutor, Jean-François Mayet, said the case had “shaken our society in terms of our relationship with others”. He said: “This is not about conviction or acquittal but fundamentally changing the relationship between men and women.”
Gisèle Pelicot has become an international feminist icon for waiving her anonymity, allowing the hearing to be held in public and for the videos her husband made of her rape and abuse while she was unconscious to be shown. She has said she hopes the trial will change society’s macho attitude towards the sexual abuse of women.
Entering the court to applause on Monday – as she has every day of the trial – she said: “It’s very emotional.”
Hours later, Salima Saa, France’s equality minister, unveiled new measures to combat violence against women and sexual abuse, two days after tens of thousands of protesters demonstrated in cities claiming the government’s actions were “window dressing”.