Dominique Pelicot, the 72-year-old who admitted to drugging his wife for years in France and inviting dozens of other 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 a statement released on Monday by the prosecutor at the regional court where the appeals will be heard.
A new trial for those men, which could subject Mr. Pelicot’s now former wife, Gisèle Pelicot, to a fresh round of indignity and pain, is expected to take place in the last months of 2025 at a courthouse in Nîmes, southern France. The case will be heard by three judges and a nine-person jury. The judges and jury members all vote and a decision is reached by simple majority.
In a phone interview on Monday, one of Ms. Pelicot’s lawyers, Stéphane Babonneau, said that Ms. Pelicot was aware that the guilty verdicts and sentencings had been “only a first step.” He added that she respects the right of the men to appeal.
“Clearly she would have preferred it not to happen,” Mr. Babonneau said. “But if she has to take part in a second trial, she will. She’s serene about it.”
During the recent trial, Mr. Pelicot had said that he expected the five-judge panel to give him the maximum 20-year sentence for his crimes. 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, Béatrice Zavarro, his lawyer, 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.
The courts have not confirmed the identity of the 17 men who filed nor the nature of their appeals; either the sentence or the verdict or both can be appealed.
More than 30 of the defendants admitted to having sex with Ms. Pelicot but said that they had never intended to rape her. Most of them said that Mr. Pelicot had tricked them into believing that they would join the Pelicots for a consensual threesome and that Ms. Pelicot would be pretending to sleep or had taken sleeping pills herself. Some of the defendants said they thought Mr. Pelicot had drugged them, too, a charge he denied.
Mr. Pelicot is also being investigated in the rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in 1991 and in the attempted rape of a 19-year-old in 1999. He has admitted to the attempted rape but denies any involvement in the 1991 homicide.
On Monday morning, Carine Monzat, a lawyer for one of the men who had been found guilty, said in a text message that she was still reviewing the court’s decision on her client and had filed his appeal to keep his options open. She said that they could decide to withdraw it eventually.
In choosing to have the recent trial, and her identity, made public, Ms. Pelicot was lauded as a feminist icon and a model of courage for women who have suffered sexual violence. In brief remarks to reporters shortly after the verdicts, she paid homage to “the victims, unrecognized, whose stories often remain hidden. I want you to know that we share the same struggle.”
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