Macron thanked Gisele Pellicot for her courage and dignity in the rape trial

French President Emmanuel Macron has paid tribute to Gisele Pellicot for the strength she showed in the trial over the mass rape of her husband and 50 other men.

Describing her as a trailblazer for women, he said her “dignity and courage shocked and inspired France and the world”.

Her ex-husband Dominic Pellico, 72, was jailed for the maximum 20 years for aggravated rape after admitting drugging her for nearly a decade and recruiting dozens of men to rape her while she lay in a coma. in bed

After 50 other men received lesser sentences, Giselle Pellicot said the trial had been a difficult trial, but she believed in a future where women and men could “live in harmony with respect and understanding”.

It was her decision to renounce anonymity and make the trial open to the public that brought the world’s attention to the problems of drug-related rape and sexual assault.

Judges in Avignon, southern France, found all 51 defendants, aged between 27 and 74, guilty, but lawyer Giselle Pellicot said on Friday that “no sentence will restore her ruined life”.

Her three children are said to have been disappointed that many of the sentences were shorter than what prosecutors had sought. They ranged from three to 15 years, rather than the maximum 18 requested by prosecutors.

Forty-one of the men were reportedly sent to prison immediately. Many of those convicted are likely to appeal their sentences.

Dominic Pellico’s lawyer said he was “somewhat stunned” by his 20-year sentence and would decide whether to appeal in the coming days. Judges say he will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

Anti-sexual assault activists stood outside the court throughout the trial and hope it could lead to reform of French rape laws and change the debate about rape culture and drug-fueled sexual assaults.

“Shame changes sides” became one of the slogans of the case, and in a sign of the importance of the trial, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz thanked Gisele Pellicot for giving women around the world a “strong voice”.

“Shame always falls on the perpetrator,” Scholz added.

One of her lawyers, Antoine Camus, told France Info radio on Friday that the trial would serve as a “building block” and that by making the trial public, Giselle Pellicot was trying to give the public a chance to “deal with (the questions) and ask the right questions.”

The speaker of the French National Assembly, Yael Braun Pivet, said that the taboo had been broken: “Thanks to you, the world is not the same anymore.”

Former French prime minister Gabriel Athal hoped the mass-rape trial would send a “shock wave” through every boy’s education – “because this is where the fight for equality and respect begins”.