Five unanswered questions from the court

French rape survivor Giselle Pellicot walked out of a court in southern France for the last time on Thursday after her ex-husband was jailed for 20 years for drugging and raping her and inviting dozens of strangers to abuse her. her for almost ten years.

Dominique Pellicot, 72, was found guilty of all charges by a judge in Avignon. He was tried along with 50 other men, all of whom were found guilty of at least one charge, although their prison terms were shorter than prosecutors had sought.

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

When she first walked up the steps of the courthouse in Avignon in September, no one knew the name Giselle Pellicot. Over the next 15 weeks, her fame as a rape victim who refused to be ashamed of what had been done to her skyrocketed.

By the time she left the tribunal on Thursdayhundreds of crowds chanted her name, and her photo 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 though she has changed her name, it will be impossible for her to return to the anonymity that has served her so well as she tries to rebuild her life after her husband’s crimes are exposed.

Gisele is not the first person whose unimaginable suffering has turned her into an icon. At great personal cost, she became a symbol of a struggle she never chose. So it seems unlikely that she would want to become an outspoken activist against gender-based violence or a well-known feminist. Rather, she can return to the things she says have always brought her solace: music, long walks and chocolate — as well as her seven grandchildren.

“At the start of the trial, she said, ‘If I last two weeks, that will be a lot.’ In the end, it reached three and a half months,” said her lawyer Stefan Babono. “She’s at peace now and relieved it’s over.”

Days after Dominic Pellico’s crimes came to light, his daughter Caroline Darian was called to the police station and shown photos of an unconscious woman wearing unfamiliar underwear. She later said her life “stopped” when she realized she was looking at her photos.

Her father always denied touching her, but Caroline – whose anguish and devastation was evident at many court hearings – said she would never believe him and accused him of giving her “bloodshot eyes”.

But the lack of evidence of abuse, which Caroline believes has led her to say she is the “forgotten victim” of the court. This concept seeped into her relationship with her mother. In her memoirs, published after her father’s arrest, she accused Giselle of not providing enough support, implicitly choosing to side with her abusive ex-husband instead of her daughter.

Although Gisele and her children always sat next to each other in court, often whispering as they snuggled together, there were signs that the trial had taken its toll on their relationship.

On Friday, Caroline’s brother David stressed – as he has done before – that the trial was not just about Gisele, but about their whole “destroyed family”.

“We kids felt forgotten,” he said. “Honestly, I feel that even though our attorneys did a great job defending our mother, we were taken a little less seriously.”

In her memoirs, Caroline lamented Giselle’s “denial as a coping mechanism.”

“Because of my father,” she wrote, “now I am losing my mother.”

With the exception of Dominique, all of the defendants received less prison terms than prosecutors had requested.

Several lawyers were clearly pleased, which means they are unlikely to encourage their clients to appeal the convictions. The man, Jean-Pierre Marechal, got 12 years – five less than prosecutors had asked for – and his lawyer, Patrick Gontard, told the BBC there was “no question” he would appeal.

The months or years the men have previously spent in prison will count towards their total sentence, meaning some could be released soon if they have served their minimum terms.

One man, who faced 17 years, was sentenced to eight years in prison, and his lawyer, Roland Marmilot, told the BBC that because he had already spent several years in prison, he was likely to be released relatively soon.

Nevertheless, the next morning after the end of the trial, two people who were sentenced to eight years in prison already filed an appeal. More are expected to follow over the next ten days – the time period for appeals.

Dominique Pellicot pleaded guilty to the assault and attempted rape of a 23-year-old real estate agent, known by the alias Marion, in a suburb of Paris in 1999. Her mouth was covered with a cloth soaked in ether, but she managed to fight off her attacker. and he ran away. It wasn’t until 2021, after he was arrested for the crimes he committed against his wife Giselle, that Pellico’s DNA was cross-checked with a spot of blood found on Marion’s shoe and he pleaded guilty.

However, he denies responsibility in another cold case – the 1991 rape and murder of another young real estate agent, Sophie Norme, for whom there is no DNA. Investigators say the two cases are too similar to be coincidental.

Other cold cases where similar modus operandi were used are also being re-examined.

“There will be ‘before’ and there will be ‘after’ the Pellicot trial,” one Parisian told the BBC in the first days of the trial.

For many, that sentiment has only intensified in the past few months, during which intense media coverage of the Pelicott trial has spawned countless conversations about rape, consent and gender-based violence.

“What we need to do is much, much tougher sentences,” Nicholas and Mehdi, two Mazan residents, told the BBC. They said they were “disgusted” when they learned one of the defendants was a man they had played football with.

“With longer terms, they would at least think before they do these things,” they said, adding that it was “crazy unfair” that some of the men could be out of jail in the next few months.

However, it should be noted that the risk of receiving a 20-year prison term for aggravated rape did not stop Dominic Pellico from offering to rape his unconscious wife to strangers he met on the Internet.

There have been calls to reform French rape law to include consent, but this is stuck in the past and will require significant work in the current divided French parliament.

Some argue that schools have a duty to do a better job of teaching new generations about sex, love and consent. Beatrice Zavara, Dominica Pelico’s lawyer, said that she believes that “changes will not come from the Ministry of Justice, but from the Ministry of Education.”

Françoise, who lives in the area where Giselle and Dominique Pellicot used to live, told the BBC she believes a way needs to be found to bridge the gap between what children are taught in schools and the type of material they have access to online.

“Young people are so exposed to online sex, and at the same time schools are very proud,” she said. “They have to be much more open and honest about matching and explaining what children see.”

These exchanges show that while it will take time for any change to become tangible, the conversation has begun. This will continue until there are no more unanswered questions.