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Seventeen of the other 50 men convicted in the case — most for participating in rapes of Gisèle Pelicot, then Mr. Pelicot’s wife — have filed appeals, according to a lawyer.
Dec. 30, 2024, 9:26 a.m. ET
Dominique Pelicot, the 72-year-old who admitted to drugging his wife for years in France and inviting dozens of men to join him in raping her, will not appeal his conviction on aggravated rape and other charges, his lawyer said on Monday.
But the horrific story, which galvanized women in France and beyond to speak out against spousal violence and rape culture, is far from over. Seventeen of the 50 other men found guilty in the case have appealed, according to the lawyer, Béatrice Zavarro, and more appeals could be filed before a court-established deadline of Monday night.
During the trial, Mr. Pelicot had said he expected the five-judge panel to give him the maximum 20-year sentence for his crimes against his now former wife, Gisèle Pelicot. The judges did so on Dec. 19, when all the verdicts and sentences were announced.
With the revelations of his crimes, Mr. Pelicot became one of France’s most notorious sexual predators.
On Monday, Ms. Zavarro said in an interview with French public radio that Mr. Pelicot believed that an appeal would constitute a “new ordeal” for Ms. Pelicot, “whom he has always indicated in the proceedings was not his adversary.” She also said that she did not want her client to run the risk of new charges and a harsher sentence, which would be a possibility if he were to appeal.
The 50 other defendants, most of whom were found guilty of rape, received sentences from three to 15 years. Six of them walked free because they had already served most or all of their jail time before the trial.
