WARNING: The details in this story may be distressing to some readers.
The high-profile Dominique Pelicot rape trial in France has entered a new phase, with prosecutors presenting verdicts and requesting the maximum 20-year prison sentence for Mr Pelicot — the man accused of drugging his now-ex-wife to facilitate her rape and sexual abuse by him and dozens of strangers.
After hearings stretching over nearly three months, the trial in the southern city of Avignon that attracted worldwide attention and turned into an examination of the pervasiveness of sexual violence in France and beyond is beginning to wrap up.
Public prosecutors began on Monday, local time, by focusing on Mr Pelicot, the 71-year-old Gisele Pelicot was married to for nearly 50 years and who she believed was a loving, caring husband.
But he has admitted that for years he mixed sedatives into her food and drink so he could rape her and also invite dozens of strangers that he recruited online to also rape her.
Prosecutor Laure Chabaud asked the panel of judges for the maximum possible penalty for aggravated rape — 20 years — against the victim's now ex-husband.
Mr Pelicot, who turns 72 this week, stared down at the floor, one hand on the handle of his cane, as the prosecutor spoke.
"Twenty years between the four walls of a prison," she said.
"It's both a lot and not enough."
Fifty other men also stand trial for participating in the alleged abuse.
The prosecutors, who will over the next two days say what sentences they seek against the co-accused, rejected the arguments made by many of the men that they did not realise they were raping Ms Pelicot or had not intended to do it.
The court is expected to deliver its verdicts by December 20.
Ms Pelicot, who waived her right to anonymity, pushed for graphic images that her husband filmed of the rapes to be presented in the courtroom, showing that she was unconscious and inert, audibly snoring.
"This woman was you, Madame Gisèle Pelicot, an ordinary woman," said prosecutor Jean-François Mayet, turning to her as he praised her courage and her desire to make shame change sides so it falls on rapists and not their victims.
He noted that Monday also marked the international day for the elimination of violence against women and said that France faces "a long path for our society to change its view of rape culture".
Mr Pelicot's lawyer, Beatrice Zavarro, told reporters it was not a surprise that prosecutors had sought the longest sentence possible.
France promises to help chemical submission victims
France will launch reforms to help women who fear they have been drugged and then raped, including state-funded test kits, Prime Minister Michel Barnier said on Monday, amid the trial that has shocked the country and the world.
The kits — which could tell a woman if she had been given such drugs — will be funded through the state health insurance system in several regions on a trial basis, he said, without going into more details.
By the end of 2025, women who have been victims of violence will be able to file a complaint in any hospital, he told the same press conference.
Women currently have to go to a police station.
"These last months the French have been deeply moved by the incredible courage of Gisele Pelicot," he said.
ABC/wires
