Many express disappointment over the penalties that have been announced. In all cases except for the main defendant, the sentences were milder than what the prosecutors had requested. Gisèle Pelicot says, however, that she respects the court's decision.
Gisèle Pelicot's ex-husband Dominique Pelicot has been sentenced to 20 years for drugging his wife for ten years and offering her to other men to rape.
Gisèle Pelicot says that she never regretted that the trial was open to the public, and expresses support for other people who have been subjected to sexual abuse.
We share the same struggle, she says, and adds that she believes in a future where "all, women and men, can live in harmony".
Gisèle Pelicot's children, whom she has with Dominique Pelicot, are disappointed with the penalties that have been announced, according to a family member for the news agency AFP.
Their father was sentenced to the maximum penalty, but the other approximately 50 accused in the case were sentenced to lower penalties than what the prosecutors had requested. Instead of sentences between 4 and 20 years, they were sentenced to between 3 and 15 years in prison.
Outside the courtroom in Avignon, people shouted that the sentences were shamefully low after the penalties were read out.
Dominique Pelicot's lawyer Beatrice Zavarro does not rule out that the verdict may be appealed.
We will use the ten days we have to decide whether to appeal this decision or not, she says.
