Forty-nine men whom Dominique Pelicot brought into his home to assault his wife were also convicted Thursday as part of the same landmark trial. The man convicted of orchestrating the sustained assaults over the years was given the maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while his co-accused were handed sentences ranging from three to 15 years.
Your witness, your statements, have really moved me and they have given me the strength to come back every day for these long days of the trial," Pelicot told journalists outside the court Thursday.
I'll never regret this decision. I have confidence in our capacity, collectively, to find a better future, in which men and women alike can live harmlessly together with mutual respect," she said.
Roger Arata, the lead judge at the court in Avignon, southeast France, read out the verdicts for Dominique Pelicot and the 49 other men convicted of raping his former wife in her own bed at his invitation. One other man was accused of aggravated sexual assault.
All the men were found guilty, but one had his conviction reduced from rape to sexual assault, and two of their sentences were suspended. Pelicot was greeted as she arrived at the court Thursday by crowds holding signs with slogans such as: "Thank you for your courage. The trial began on Sept. She insisted that videos submitted as evidence, made by her ex-husband and showing men assaulting her while she appeared unconscious, be shown in the court.
