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full screen A demonstration in support of rape victims in the French capital Paris, after the rape verdict against Dominique Pelicot. Archive image. Photo: Thomas Padilla/AP/TT
The Frenchman Dominique Pelicot, who was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for, among other things, aggravated rape after a series of assaults on his drugged wife, is not appealing the sentence, his lawyer announces.
72-year-old Pelicot has become known as the “monster from Avignon”. He was accused of having drugged his wife Gisèle for almost ten years, as well as having raped the wife himself and invited strange men to molest her.
On videos from the abuses in the village of Mazan in the south of France, the investigators have found at least 70 perpetrators. But only about 50 could be identified. They were also tried together with Pelicot and all were found guilty, most of them for aggravated rape.
Dominique Pelicot himself was sentenced on December 19 to 20 years in prison for aggravated rape, attempted rape and aggravated rape of the wife of one of the co-accused, as well as for having taken pictures of a “sexual nature” of his daughter and two daughters-in-law.
72-year-old Gisèle Pelicot has been hailed as a feminist hero for her decision to keep the trial against her ex-husband open. Among others, French President Emmanuel Macron has thanked Gisèle Pelicot for the courage she has shown.