Gisèle Pelicot speaks after ex-husband found guilty of rapes, sentenced to 20 years in France

FRANCE – Gisèle Pelicot spoke of her “very difficult ordeal” after 51 men were all found guilty Thursday in the drugging-and-rape trial that turned her into a feminist hero, expressing support for other victims of sexual violence whose cases don’t get such attention and “whose stories remain untold.” “I want you to know that we share the same fight,” she said in her first words after the court in the southern French city of Avignon handed down prison sentences ranging from three to 20 years in the shocking case that stunned France and spurred a national reckoning about the blight of rape culture.

As campaigners against sexual violence protested outside the courthouse, the 72-year-old expressed “my profound gratitude towards the people who supported me.” “Your messages moved me deeply, and they gave me the strength to come back, every day, and survive through these long daily hearings,” she said. “This trial was a very difficult ordeal.” Pelicot — now an icon for many women in France and beyond after her courageous demand that all the evidence be heard in open court — also said she was thinking of her grandchildren after enduring the more than three months of hearings that prosecuted the rapes and other abuse inflicted on her by her now ex-husband and his more than four dozen accomplices over nearly a decade. (Jamaica Gleaner)

Foto: Gisele Pelicot speaks to the press as she leaves the courtroom, in the Avignon courthouse, southern France. (AP)