Reuters
Dominique Pelicot, who was found guilty of drugging and raping his then-wife Gisèle Pelicot, appears in a courthouse sketch in Avignon, France on 16 December
Dominique Pelicot has been found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison for drugging his ex-wife, Gisèle, raping her and inviting dozens of men to also abuse her over nearly a decade, along with other charges.
Pelicot had admitted the charges against him.
He was on trial with 50 other men, the majority of whom denied charges of rape. The court in the French city of Avignon found 47 of the men guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape, and two guilty of sexual assault.
The defendants now have 10 days to appeal.
Most of the 50 come from towns and villages in a 50km (30 mile) radius of the Pelicots’ own village of Mazan.
Among them are firefighters, lorry drivers, soldiers, security guards, a journalist and a DJ.
Here is a list of the men convicted. The BBC had not previously fully named the defendants due to French law.
Dominique Pelicot: Guilty of aggravated rape on his ex-wife, Gisèle. Also guilty of the attempted aggravated rape of the wife of one of the co-accused, Jean-Pierre Marechal, Cillia, and taking indecent images of his daughter, Caroline, and his daughters-in-law, Aurore and Celine. Sentenced to 20 years. He is 72.Jean-Pierre Marechal: Guilty of attempted rape and aggravated rape of his wife, as well as drugging her. Sentenced to 12 years. The only one of the 51 who was not accused of raping or attempting to rape Gisèle, the 63-year-old admitted to following Dominique Pelicot’s lead, drugging his own wife for five years, raping her and inviting Dominique to rape her too.Charly Arbo: Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentenced to 13 years. He is 30 years old.Cyrille Delville: Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentenced to eight years. He is a father-of-two.Christian Lescole: Guilty of aggravated rape. Acquitted of having child abuse imagery. Sentenced to nine years. He is a volunteer firefighter and father of two daughters. He has been in jail since 2021.Lionel Rodriguez: Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentenced to eight years. The 44-year-old was an employee in the same supermarket where Dominique Pelicot got caught upskirting in 2020, leading to the rape investigation.Nicolas Francois: Guilty of aggravated rape and having child abuse imagery. Sentenced to eight years and banned from working in jobs with children for several years. He is a 43-year-old freelance journalist.Jacques Cubeau, 73, lorry driver: Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentenced to five years. He is a divorced father-of-two.Patrice Nicolle: Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentenced to eight years. The 55-year-old father-of-two is an electrician.Thierry Parisis: Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentenced to eight years. He is 54.Simoné Mekenese: Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentenced to nine years. The 43-year-old construction worker and father-of-six lived next door to the Pelicots.Nizar Hamida: Guilty of aggravated rape. Sentenced to 10 years. The 40-year-old had worked as a hairdresser, builder and delive
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