Gisele Pelicot's husband Dominique jailed for 20 years for organising gang rapes on her

The verdict for 72-year-old Dominique Pelicot was read by the lead judge of the court in Avignon, Roger Arata. The judge read out verdicts one after the other against the 51 men accused in the case, declaring “you are therefore declared guilty of aggravated rape on the person of Gisele Pelicot” as he worked his way through the first names on the list.

Gisele Pelicot was seated on one side of the courtroom, facing the defendants as the judge announced one guilty verdict after another.

The historic case has profoundly shaken the country. Dominique Pelicot admitted that for years he knocked out his then wife of 50 years with drugs so that he and strangers he recruited online could abuse her while he filmed the assaults.

The appalling ordeal inflicted over nearly a decade on Gisele Pelicot, now a 72-year-old grandmother, in what she thought was a loving marriage and her courage during the bruising and stunning trial have transformed the retired power company worker into a feminist hero of the nation.

Stretching over more than three months, the trial galvanised campaigners against sexual violence and spurred calls for tougher measures to stamp out rape culture.

Dominique Pelicot and 49 other men were tried in the southern French city of Avignon for aggravated rape and attempted rape and face up to 20 years in jail if convicted.

Prosecutors asked that he get the maximum penalty and for sentences of 10 to 18 years for the others. They also requested a four-year prison term for another defendant who was tried for aggravated sexual assault.

The 51 men were all accused of having taken part in Dominique Pelicot’s sordid rape and abuse fantasies that were acted out in the couple’s retirement home in the small Provence town of Mazan and elsewhere.