I considered my grandchildren, says Gisèle Pélicot after her rape trial in France

Gisèle Pélicot mentioned she considered her grandchildren throughout the drug and rape trial that made her a feminist hero.

After 51 males, together with her ex-husband, had been convicted on Thursday of rape or sexual offences, she mentioned the ordeal was “very troublesome” and she or he expressed assist for different victims of sexual violence.

“We share the identical struggle,” she mentioned in her first phrases after the courtroom in Avignon, southern France, handed down jail sentences starting from three to twenty years. She had waived her proper to anonymity.

She mentioned she considered her grandchildren throughout greater than three months of listening to, saying: “Additionally it is for them that I fought this struggle.”

The courtroom sentenced Dominique Pelicot to twenty years in jail for drugging and raping her and permitting different males to rape her whereas she was unconscious, abuse that lasted almost a decade.

The sentence handed down in opposition to Pélicot was the utmost sentence attainable below French regulation. He was discovered responsible of all costs in opposition to him.

At 72 years outdated, this might imply he’ll spend the remainder of his life in jail. He won’t be able to request early launch till at the very least two-thirds of his sentence has been served.

Of the opposite 50 accused of rape, just one was acquitted however discovered responsible of aggravated sexual assault.

One other man was additionally discovered responsible of the sexual assault cost he was tried for – that means all 51 defendants had been discovered responsible in a technique or one other.

This surprising case surprised France and sparked nationwide consciousness of the scourge of rape tradition.