On Thursday, a judge in the French city of Avignon will hand down sentences against 51 men in a mass rape that turned a 72-year-old woman into a feminist icon.

For nearly a decade, Gisele Pellicot was drugged by her ex-husband Dominic, who then invited dozens of men he recruited online to have sex with her while she was unconscious in her bed at home. She has sex.

She decided to give up her anonymity and make the trial public – shifting, in her words, “shame” from the victim to the rapist.

Although he admitted the charges against him, most of the other men on trial denied that their actions were rape.

Prosecutors had sought a sentence ranging from four to 20 years in prison, the maximum penalty for aggravated rape.

One of the defendants who admitted the charges said the trial was rushed and “botched”.

Activists said the case proved France’s rape laws require consent, as in other European countries.

From 2011 to 2020, Dominique Pellicott continued to give his wife sedatives and sleeping pills without her knowledge, crushing them into powder and adding them to her food and drinks.

Gisele Pellicot, who lost her memory and blacked out due to drug abuse, spoke of losing ten years of her life.

He was eventually caught after a security guard reported him to police for taking photos of women under their skirts in a supermarket.

“I thought we were an intimate couple,” she once told the court. Instead, her husband invited local men on a notorious but now banned website called Coco.fr to have sex with her while she was in a coma.

“I was sacrificed on the altar of sin,” Gisele Pellicot said early in the trial.

Judge Roger Arata and four of his colleagues heard how 50 men aged between 27 and 74 had been visiting the Pellicott couple’s home in the village of Mazan since early September. .

Dominic Pelicot admitted all the charges against him – drugging and raping his wife and recruiting dozens of men to rape her. Prosecutors want the judge to sentence him to up to 20 years in prison for aggravated rape.

“I’m a rapist,” he told the judge. “I fully admit all the facts (of the case).” He begged his ex-wife and three children for forgiveness, but his actions tore the Pellicott family apart.

The other defendants come from all walks of life, with most coming from within a 50-kilometer (30-mile) radius of Mazan, a village in Pellikot. They are firefighters, security guards and truck drivers, which has earned them the title Monsieur-Tout-Le-Monde (Mr. Ordinary). Most of them also have children.

Fifty of the 51 people were charged with aggravated rape and attempted rape.

Romain V, 63, faces 18 years in prison if convicted. He is accused of raping Gisele Pellico six times, knowing that he was HIV-positive. His lawyers said he could not have passed the infection to others because of the years of treatment he had received.

Another 10 men face possible prison terms of 15 to 17 years, and prosecutors are seeking 10 to 14 years in prison for 38 others.

Before the verdict, one of the few men to admit the rape told the BBC through his daughter that many people made an immediate decision: “There wasn’t enough time. For me it was a botched job.”

According to the French Ministry of Justice, the average sentence for rape in France is 11.1 years.

A man has been charged with aggravated sexual assault, not rape. Prosecutors said grandfather Joseph C, 69, a retired sports coach, should face the minimum sentence of four years in prison.

Some of them have apologized for their actions, but many have not.

Cyril B says he is sorry for Gisèle Pelicot.

“I’m ashamed of myself, I’m disgusted,” Jean-Pierre M said this week. His lawyers want the judge to consider his remorse.

Not only was the case conducted in full public view, but Dominic Pellicott recorded all of the defendant’s evidence on video, which was then played in court.

Gisèle Pelicot, who was divorced from her husband, said the men “treated me like a rag doll.” “Don’t talk to me about the sex scenes. These are rape scenes,” she said.

Therefore, none of the defendants can challenge the allegation that they were in Gisele Pellico’s room while she was unconscious.

Their defense relies on the definition of rape as it currently involves any form of sexual penetration “by force, coercion, threat or suddenness”. This means prosecutors must prove intent to rape.

Prosecutor Laure Chabaud told the court that no one could anymore say “she consented because she said nothing – that belongs to a bygone era”.

Thousands of people in France take part in protests in support of Giselle Pellicot. Women stood outside the court every day, chanting what her lawyer said in court: “Shame is changing sides.”

Gisele Pellico attended the trial almost every day, appearing before nine o’clock wearing sunglasses.

Her decision to give up her anonymity was highly unusual, but she stood firm at every turn. “I want all women who have been raped to say: Mrs. Pellicott did it, and so can I.”

But she was well aware that behind her powerful exterior “was a ruin” and despite being widely praised for her actions, she was a reluctant hero.

Her lawyer Stéphane Babonneau told the BBC’s Emma Barnett: “She kept repeating, ‘I’m normal’ and she didn’t want to be seen as an idol ”

“Women often have power they can’t imagine and they have to believe in themselves. That’s her message.”

Lawyers for the 51 defendants stressed that they led ordinary lives, although court-appointed psychiatrist Laurent Layet testified that they were neither ordinary nor “monstrosities.”

In the early weeks of the trial, the then mayor of Mazan told the BBC that the case was likely to be more serious because no one died.

But the comments sparked an outcry across France, and the mayor quickly apologized. He has since said he would retire from public life.

Because trials are held in public, this means each hearing is covered in detail and detail.

Elsa Labouret of campaign group Dare Feminists told the BBC: “[Gisele Pellicot]decided to make this something bigger than herself. Make this something Reflects the way we as a society deal with sexual violence.”