Other defendants were sentenced to prison terms ranging from three to 15 years.
All those accused in this shocking case in France, between the ages of 27 and 74, have been found guilty, a total of 51. Two have been found guilty of sexual assault, two of attempted rape, 47 of aggravated rape. One defendant was convicted in absentia because he fled the country. The court verdict can be appealed within 10 days.
More than 20 suspects in the case are still wanted as investigators have not been able to identify them.
The BBC writes that between 2011 and 2020, D. Pelico, without his wife’s knowledge, added tranquilizers and sleeping pills to her food and drinks. When his wife was fast asleep, he invited men in the neighborhood to use his wife for sex on the Internet. Pat took a video of the rape, which later served as evidence in court. In addition, in the video, the woman can be seen in a state of deep sleep, even snoring, thus defeating the defense efforts of some of the defendants to present the incident as consensual sex.
Most of the accused come from Mazan village, where Peliko lived, within a radius of up to 50 kilometers. They represent different layers of society, among them were firefighters, security guards, truck drivers. Most were married and had children.
Pellico was caught after a security guard at a supermarket detained him and handed him over to the police for trying to film what he saw up women’s skirts with a video camera.
Gisele Pélicot has earned a lot of respect and recognition in French society for refusing to remain anonymous in the trial and demanding that the court hearings be open to the public, thus drawing more public attention to rape and the use of drugs in such crimes. In October, she stated at the court hearing that it was not her who should be ashamed, but her abusers.