Lawyer says Dominique Pelicot will not appeal the mass rape trial’s guilty decision

Dominique Pelicot, who was given a 20-year prison sentence by a French court for drugging and raping his ex-wife Gisele for nearly ten years and inviting scores of strangers to do the same, will not appeal, his attorney announced Monday. However, a new trial will be held because 17 co-defendants have appealed.

During her now ex-husband’s and his 50 co-defendants’ three-month trial—a case that has shocked the world—Gisele Pelicot, 72, has emerged as a symbol of female bravery and tenacity. The court found them all guilty on December 19.

Beatrice Zavarro, Dominique Pelicot’s attorney, stated on FranceInfo Radio that her client “decided not to appeal, because he says it would be a new ordeal and new confrontations for his wife, who he always said in the debates was not his adversary.”

The five-judge panel sentenced Dominique Pelicot, who had been married to Gisele for fifty years, to the maximum penalty at the prosecutors’ request after he entered a guilty plea.

The court sentenced 46 of the other defendants to between three and fifteen years in prison, which is fewer than the four to eighteen years the prosecution had sought, for rape, two counts of attempted rape, and two counts of sexual assault.

The remaining seventeen have till Monday night to make a decision, and seventeen have already declared their intention to appeal.

Truck drivers, military personnel, firefighters, security personnel, farm laborers, grocery employees, journalists, and the jobless are among their diverse backgrounds.

Many of the defendants had refuted the accusations, claiming that it was not rape if the husband approved and that they believed it to be a cooperative sex game planned by the couple.

The 72-year-old Dominique Pelicot said the men he met online knew exactly what they were doing and denied deceiving them.

In support of Gisele, the trial has sparked protest marches across France and sparked introspection, including a discussion over whether to amend France’s rape legislation, which currently does not indicate that consent is required for sex.

According to Gisele Pelicot’s attorney earlier this month, she is not scared of a fresh trial.

She doesn’t feel scared. Since she is 72 today, her lawyer stated that she has already assured us that she would handle the situation if it should arise, provided she is in excellent health.