Gisele Pelicot's ex-husband found guilty of rapes and other charges against him in France

The verdict for 72-year-old Dominique Pelicot was read by the lead judge of the court in Avignon, Roger Arata. He hasn't yet delivered the sentence, which can be up to 20 years imprisonment.

The historic case has profoundly shaken the country over the past several months.

Dominique Pelicot admitted that for years he knocked his then-wife of 50 years out 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 imprisonment if convicted.

Prosecutors asked that he get the maximum penalty and 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.

Dominique Pelicot testified that he hid tranquilisers in food and drink that he gave his then-wife, knocking her out so profoundly that he could do what he wanted to her for hours.

One of the men was on trial not for assaulting Gisele Pelicot but for drugging and raping his own wife -- with the help and drugs from Dominique Pelicot, who was also tried for raping the other man's wife.

The five judges voted by secret ballot in their rulings, with a majority vote required to convict and also for the sentences of those found guilty.

Campaigners against sexual violence are hoping for exemplary prison terms and view the trial as a possible turning point in the fight against rape culture and the use of drugs to subdue victims.

Gisele Pelicot's courage in waiving her right to anonymity as a survivor of sexual abuse and successfully pushing for the hearings and shocking evidence "including videos" to be heard in open court have fueled conversations both on a national level in France and among families, couples, and groups of friends about how to better protect women and the role that men can play in pursuing that goal.

"Men are starting to talk to women -- their girlfriends, mothers, and friends -- in ways they hadn't before," said Fanny Foures, 48, who joined other women from the feminist group Les Amazones in gluing messages of support for Gisele Pelicot on walls around Avignon before the verdict.

"It was awkward at first, but now real dialogues are happening," she said.

"Some women are realising, maybe for the first time, that their ex-husbands violated them, or that someone close to them committed abuse," Foures added. "And men are starting to reckon with their own behaviour or complicity -- things they've ignored or failed to act on. It's heavy, but it's creating change."

A large banner that campaigners hung on a city wall opposite the courthouse read, "MERCI GISELE" -- thank you, Gisele.

Dominique Pelicot first came to the attention of police in September 2020, when a supermarket security guard caught him surreptitiously filming up women's skirts.

Police subsequently found his library of homemade images documenting years of abuse inflicted on his wife -- more than 20,000 photos and videos in all, stored on computer drives and catalogued in folders marked "abuse," "her rapists," "night alone," and other titles.

The abundance of evidence led police to the other defendants. In the videos, investigators counted 72 different abusers but weren't able to identify them all.

Although some of the accused -- including Dominique Pelicot -- acknowledged that they were guilty of rape, many didn't, even in the face of video evidence. The hearings sparked wider debate in France about whether the country's legal definition of rape should be expanded to include specific mention of consent.

Some defendants argued that Dominique Pelicot's consent covered his wife, too. Some sought to excuse their behaviour by insisting that they hadn't intended to rape anyone when they responded to the husband's invitations to come to their home. Some laid the blame at his door, saying he misled them into thinking they were taking part in consensual kink.