In France, Light Prison Sentences In Mass-Rape Trial Ignite Outrage

Pelicot, dozens of men were convicted of raping his drugged wife over 10 years

- MATTHEW DALTON

A French court convicted the former husband of Gisèle Pelicot and 50 other men in a rape trial that transformed the 72-year-old woman into a feminist icon and shocked the conscience of a nation.

A panel of judges on Thursday found Dominique Pelicot, 72, guilty of drugging his thenwife unconscious; raping her and inviting dozens of men to abuse her during a 10-year period. The judges also found him guilty of taking sexual images of his daughter and his two daughters-in-law, and of raping the wife of one of the other men on trial after conspiring with the man to drug her.

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the maximum for rape under French law.

Of the other men on trial with Dominique Pelicot, 48 also were convicted of rape, one of attempted rape and one of sexual assault. They received sentences that ranged from three to 15 years in prison.

Except for Dominique Pelicot, the sentences were significantly lower than sought by prosecutors-a decision that ignited tensions outside the courtroom, where a crowd of Gisèle Pelicot supporters and activists had gathered.

"This trial has been a difficult test," Gisèle Pelicot said after the verdicts. "I am thinking of the unrecognized victims whose stories live in the shadows. I want you to know we share the same fight."

Pelicot testified during the trial that he recruited men to have sex with his wife using a website that was a magnet of criminal activity before French authorities shut it this year.