Convicted sex attackers were met by angry crowds as they left the court in Avignon today – with protesters who have been supporting Gisele Pelicot through her rape trial ordeal declaring ‘shame on you!’ as the men emerged.
The criminals faced the fury of feminist protesters who were waiting outside the court, with scores of women showing up to cheer on Madame Pelicot, protest against what many consider to be an inadequate justice system, and admonish the culprits.
Firefighters, soldiers, lorry drivers, a DJ and a journalist were among those found guilty of raping and sexually abusing 71-year-old Gisele at the behest of her husband Dominique Pelicot over the course of a decade – all without her knowledge.
Defendants cowered behind masks and beneath hoods as they entered the court this morning, with several emerging again this afternoon after being handed sentences equivalent to or less than those they have already served.
One of the defendants had to be protected by police as he walked free from the court having served time in remand, with angry protesters jeering at him as he protected his head and concealed his face.
Supporters of Gisele Pelicot screamed ‘rapists, we can see you’ while holding up signs saying ‘prison for all’ and ‘Christmas in prison, Easter in the slammer’ when Pelicot’s accomplices arrived at court this morning.
Some protesters even carried oranges as symbolic gifts for the men heading to jail. The gifting of oranges to defendants is seen as a traditional act of shaming in France, which indicates that the person receiving the orange will go to prison.
Meanwhile a defence lawyer of one of the dozens of convicted men taunted women outside the court as he left the trial today, swearing at them and labelling them ‘hysterical knitters’ in a bizarre rant.
Police had to protect the man hiding behind a face mask and hood from angry protesters jeering at him
Gisele Pelicot leaves the courthouse after hearing the verdict of the court that sentenced her ex-husband to the maximum term of 20 years jail
One of the sex attackers was met by a furious crowd when he was trying to leave the court after the verdicts were handed down
Others defendants tried to hide their faces will masks and caps
Christophe Bruschi, lawyer of one of co-accused, has a heated discussion with one of the women outside the trial
One accomplice was seen hanging his head in shame as he walked into the court
One of the defendant arrives at the courthouse in Avignon on December 19, 2024, after being booed by crowds outside
A man holds a sign reading: ‘Christmas in prison, Easter in the slammer’
Defence attorney Christophe Bruschi, who represented Joseph Cocco, a 69-year-old man who was handed three years in jail after being found guilty of sexual assault, gloated that his client had ‘walked free’ having already served his sentence.
Shocking footage shows the lawyer laughing at the protesters, labelling them ‘a bunch of hysterical knitters’ and taunting them by saying ‘my client has a message for you – the message is s***’.
He went on to say: ‘Your request for 20-year prison sentences for all the defendants has been refused. My client has walked free… He thanks you and says, “Up yours!”‘
Bruschi had smiled as he left the court, and told the waiting journalists: ‘I don’t want to provoke anybody when I walk past. I have individuals who are shouting. We may all be a bit provocative sometimes, aren’t we?
‘But when it comes to these debates I’ve listened and asked questions,’ he insisted.
Brushci’s client Cocco, a pensioner and among the oldest of the defendants in the notorious trial, was prosecuted for ‘sexual assault in a group’ and not for rape or attempted rape.
‘It was difficult to get an erection,’ he said in his defence during the trial, adding that he stayed at the Pelicots’ home for 10 minutes and then left.
‘Had I known what he was doing to his wife I would have reported him. This is atrocious,’ he said.
Found guilty of sexual assault, he has been sentenced to three years in prison, which he has already served awaiting trial.
He was just one of the dozens of men invited by Dominique Pelicot to rape his unconscious wife at their home in Mazan, southern France – all without her knowledge.
Bruschi sparked anger in France after labelling the feminist protesters ‘knitters’
Bruschi launched a bizarre rant as he was confronted by protesters, saying he had a message from his client and swearing at them
Defence lawyer Bruschi had a furious row with one of the protesters as he taunted the women over his client’s sentence
The man tried to hide his face as he was ushered through the crowd by police
An activist holds a sign reading ‘Prison for all’ outside the Avignon court this morning
The 72-year-old, who has been dubbed the Monster of Avignon, drugged, raped and organised the repeated rape and sexual abuse of his now-ex-wife, and was today given the maximum sentence of 20 years in jail for his crimes.
Firefighters, soldiers, lorry drivers, a DJ and a journalist are among those found guilty of raping 71-year-old Gisele at the behest of her husband over the course of almost a decade.
In all, the court found 47 of the defendants guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape and two guilty of sexual assault.
Guilty verdicts flooded in this morning, with the judge reading out each of the charges before delivering the sentences. All defendants were handed at least one conviction for horrific sexual crimes.
In a side room where defendants’ family members watched the proceedings on television screens, some burst into tears and gasped as the sentences were revealed.
Protesters gathered outside the courthouse followed the proceedings on their phones, with some reading out the verdicts and applauded as they were announced inside.
Gisele Pelicot’s children reacted angrily as some of the sentences were read out, deploring ‘it’s not possible’ as one convicted rapist was handed just five years. The family has said they are ‘disappointed by the low sentences’.
Pelicot, who has been labelled the ‘conductor’ of the ‘orchestra’ of rapists, hunched over in his chair and sobbed as his sentence – the longest of all the defendants – was read out.
While Dominique Pelicot’s sentence of 20 years is the maximum he could have received under French law, campaigners and many across French society have slammed what they have seen as lenient sentences for the other defendants.
The 51 men faced a combined sentence of 600 years ahead of the jail terms being handed down today. They will serve just a fraction of this – with a collective sentence of 400 years given out by the panel of five judges.
Gisele Pelicot arrives in front of the courthouse before a verdict in the Pelicot case is delivered on December 19, 2024 in Avignon, France
A large banner that campaigners hung on a city wall opposite the courthouse read, ‘MERCI GISELE’ – thank you Gisele
Judge Arata told six defendants they were now free, accounting for time already spent in detention while awaiting trial.
Stretching over more than three months, the trial galvanized campaigners against sexual violence and spurred calls for tougher measures to stamp out rape culture.
The defendants were all accused of having taken part in Dominique Pelicot’s sordid rape and abuse fantasies that were acted out in the couple’s retirement home in the small Provence town of Mazan and elsewhere.
Dominique Pelicot testified that he hid tranquilizers in food and drink that he gave his then wife, knocking her out so profoundly that he could do what he wanted to her for hours.
This court-sketch depicts Gisele Pelicot during the hearing of the verdicts
One of the men was found guilty and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment not for assaulting Gisele Pelicot but for drugging and raping his own wife – with help and drugs from Dominique Pelicot, who was also found guilty of raping that man’s wife, too.
The five judges voted by secret ballot in their rulings, with majority votes for the convictions and sentences.
Campaigners against sexual violence were hoping for exemplary prison terms and viewed the trial as a possible turning point in the fight against sexual violence and the use of drugs to subdue victims.
The Pelicot home in the village of Mazan, now known as the house of horrors
Two women hold placards reading ‘thank you Gisele’ in support of the French grandmother
Gisele Pelicot’s courage in waiving her right to anonymity as a survivor of sexual abuse and successfully pushing for the hearings and shocking evidence – including videos – to be heard in open court have fueled conversations both on a national level in France and among families, couples and groups of friends about how to better protect women and the role that men can play in pursuing that goal.
‘Men are starting to talk to women – their girlfriends, mothers and friends – in ways they hadn’t before,’ said Fanny Foures, 48, who joined other women from the feminist group Les Amazones in gluing messages of support for Gisele Pelicot on walls around Avignon before the verdict.
‘It was awkward at first, but now real dialogues are happening,’ she said.
‘Some women are realizing, maybe for the first time, that their ex-husbands violated them, or that someone close to them committed abuse,’ Foures added. ‘And men are starting to reckon with their own behavior or complicity – things they’ve ignored or failed to act on. It’s heavy, but it’s creating change.’
A large banner that campaigners hung on a city wall opposite the courthouse read, ‘MERCI GISELE’ – thank you Gisele.
