Five unanswered questions from the trial

French rape survivor Gisèle Pelicot walked out of a court in southern France for the last time on Thursday after her ex-husband was jailed for 20 years for drug use and rape, calling on many strangers to abuse her over the years. about ten.

Dominique Pelicot, 72, was found guilty of all charges by a judge in Avignon. He was tried along with 50 other men, and all were found guilty of the same crime, although the time they were imprisoned was less than what the prosecutors wanted.

Although the trial is over, there are still questions about the Pelicot case and what happens next.

When she climbed the steps of the Avignon court for the first time in September, no one knew the name of Gisèle Pelicot. Over the next 15 weeks, her reputation as a rape victim who refused to be ashamed of what had been done to her grew exponentially.

When he left the court Thursdayhundreds of people chanted his name and his picture was on the front pages of newspapers around the world.

Now she is probably one of the most famous women in France. This means that even if she changed her name, it would be impossible for her to go back to the name that served her well as she tried to rebuild her life after her husband’s wrongdoings were revealed.

Gisèle is not the first person whose incredible suffering has made her an icon. At great personal cost, he has become a symbol of a fight he never chose. Therefore, it seems unlikely that he would want to be a supporter of gender-based violence, or even a prominent figure in the field of women. Instead, she can return to what she says has always comforted her: music, long walks and chocolate – and her seven grandchildren.

“At the beginning of the trial he said: ‘If I finish two weeks, then it will be a lot.’ In the end, he managed three and a half months,” said his lawyer Stephane Babonneau. “Now, he is at peace, and everything is over.”

A few days after Dominique Pelicot’s crimes were discovered, his daughter Caroline Darian was called to the police and showed photos of a woman who appeared to be in a coma and was wearing indistinct underwear. Later, he said his life “stopped” when he realized he was looking at his photos.

Her father has always denied having touched her, but Caroline – whose anguish and frustration has been revealed in numerous court appearances – said she could not believe him and accused him of looking at her “with family eyes”.

But the lack of evidence of the alleged abuse Caroline believes has led her to say she is “forgotten” in the case. This thought apparently permeated his relationship with his mother. In her article – published after her father’s arrest – she criticized Gisèle for not supporting her enough, by choosing to side with her ex-husband who raped her daughter.

Although Gisèle and her children are always close to each other in court, often whispering together, there have been signs that the trial has damaged their relationship.

On Friday, Caroline’s brother David confirmed – as he did in the past – that the case was not about Gisèle but about “their entire destroyed family”.

We children felt that we were forgotten. “Honestly, I feel that while our attorneys did an amazing job protecting our mother, we didn’t think much of it.”

In her speech, Caroline complained that Gisèle “rejected it as a solution to the problem”.

He wrote: “Because of my father, now my mother is dead.”

With the exception of Dominique, all of the defendants’ prison terms were less than what prosecutors had sought.

Several defense lawyers were visibly satisfied, meaning they are unlikely to encourage their clients to appeal their convictions. One man, Jean-Pierre Maréchal, is serving 12 years – at least five more than prosecutors had asked for – and his lawyer Patrick Gontard told the BBC it was “impossible” for him to appeal.

The months or years the men spent in prison before their total count, meaning some could be released sooner if they serve less time.

A man who faced 17 years was sentenced to eight years in prison, and his lawyer Roland Marmillot told the BBC that because he had already served several years he could be released soon.

However, by the morning after the trial, the two men who had been jailed for eight years had already appealed. Others are expected to be followed in the next ten days – a time when appeals can be filed.

Dominique Pelicot admitted to assaulting and attempting to rape a 23-year-old woman, known as Marion, in the suburbs of Paris in 1999. A cloth containing ether was placed over her mouth but she managed to fight off the attacker. and he ran away. In 2021, after he was arrested for the crimes he committed against his wife Gisèle, Pelicot’s DNA was tested on a trace of blood found on Marion’s shoe, and he pleaded guilty.

However, he has denied any responsibility in another cold case – the rape and murder of his young friend in 1991, Sophie Narme, for which there is no DNA. Investigators have said that the two cases bear so many similarities that they could have been coincidental.

Other coolers in which similar modi operandi were used are also observed.

“There will be an ‘after’ and there will be an ‘after’ in the Pelicot trial,” a Paris man told the BBC in the early days of the trial.

For many, these feelings have only grown stronger in the past few months as media coverage of the Pelicot case has sparked more discussion about rape, consent and gender-based violence.

“What we need to do is have more, stricter sentences,” Nicolas and Mehdi, who live in Mazan, told the BBC. They said they were “disgusted” when they found out that one of the accused was someone they played football with.

“With long sentences they will think twice before doing something like this,” he said, adding that it was “unfair” that some of the men would be released from prison in the next few months.

It is worth noting, however, that the risk of 20 years in prison for aggravated rape did not stop Dominique Pelicot from handing over his unconscious wife to be manipulated by strangers he met online.

There have been calls to amend France’s rape laws to include consent, but these have stalled in the past and would take a major role in France’s divided parliament.

Some say that schools have a responsibility to teach new generations about sex, love and acceptance. Béatrice Zavarro, Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer, said that she believes that “change will not come from the Ministry of Justice but from the Ministry of Education.”

Françoise, who lives in the area where Gisèle and Dominique Pelicot lived, told the BBC that she thinks a way must be found to bridge the gap between what children are taught at school and the kind of content they get online.

“Young people are exposed to sex on the Internet and at the same time schools are very rude,” he said. “They need to be comfortable and open to connecting and expressing what children see.”

What this change shows is that, although it will take time for any change to be seen, the conversation has begun. It will continue until there are no more unanswered questions.