Dominique Pelicot jailed for 20 yrs along with 50 others for raping ex-wife Gisele; all about case that shocked France

Gisele Pelicot case: Dominique Pelicot from France has been found guilty of drugging and raping his ex-wife, Gisele Pelicot, along with 50 other men. Dominique has been sentenced to 20 years in jail.

The court pronounced the verdict on Thursday and convicted Dominique for distributing pictures of Gisele, as reported by BBC. He has also been convicted for circulating sexual images of their daughter Caroline and the wives of his sons.

What we know so far?

Dominique, 72, has confessed to drugging his ex-wife and hiring people online to rape her. He, along with 50 others, raped Gisele for nearly a decade.

He is a retired electrician who drugged his wife with sleeping pills. From 2011 to 2020, he used to invite people to sexually assault her after she had fallen unconscious. In 2020, he was charged with filming under a woman's skirt. Following his arrest, the police checked his devices and discovered incriminating evidence against him.

Dominique's trial was called the Affaire Mazan in France, named after the village near Avignon where the Pelicots lived.

The police found the other accused men from the videos on his laptop. Reportedly, almost 200 rapes were carried out from 2011 to 2020.

Some of the accused men denied rape charges saying that Gisele Pelicot did not know that she was raped as she was lying unconscious.

Similar to Dominuq Pelicot, 63-year-old Jean-Pierre Marechal, another accused in the case, was found guilty of attempted rape and aggravated rape of his wife. He confessed that he drugged his own wife for five years and invited Dominique as well to rape her. He has been sentenced to 12 years in jail.

The Gisele Pelicot case started a nationwide debate on whether consent should be included in the legal definition of rape in France. Presently, rape is defined as "any act of sexual penetration committed against another person by violence, constraint, threat or surprise".

List of accused men found guilty of aggravated rape

Mohamed Rafaa

Ludovick Blemeur

Patrick Aron

Abdelali Dallal

Grégory Serviol

Cedric Grassot

Cendric Venzin

Joseph Cocco

Hassan Ouamou

Redouane El Farihi

Jean Tirano

Saifeddine Ghabi is acquitted of rape and attempted rape. However, he was found guilty of sexual assault.

Ahmed Tbarik

Paul-Koikoi Grovogui

Omar Douiri

Husamettin Dogan

Romain Vandevelde

Jean-Marc LeLoup

Andy Rodriguez, guilty of attempted rape and aggravating factors.

Vincent Coullet

Adrien Longeron, guilty of aggravated rape and child abuse imagery.

Hughes Malago, guilty of attempted rape and two aggravating factors.

Jean-Luc LA

Fabien Sotton

Karim Sebaoui is guilty of aggravated rape and having child abuse imagery.

Redouane Azougagh

Joan Kawai

Cyprien Culieras

Mathieu Dartus

Quentin Hennebert

Cyril Beaubis

Philippe Leleu

Nizar Hamida

Boris Moulin

Dominique Davies

Jerome Vilela

Didier Sambuchi

Simoné Mekenese

Thierry Parisis

Patrice Nicolle

Jacques Cubeau

Nicolas Francois, guilty of aggravated rape and having child abuse imagery.

Lionel Rodriguez

Christian Lescole

Cyrille Delville

Florian Rocca

Charly Arbo, the 30-year-old, is the youngest among all the abusers.