17 men appealed against the conviction

Dominique Pelicot, the 72-year-old man who drugged and raped his wife Gisèle and recruited dozens of men to rape her for more than a decade, will not appeal against his 20-year prison sentence, he has said his lawyer Béatrice Zavarro.

However, 17 of the 49 men who were convicted of raping or sexually assaulting Ms. Pelicot on Dominique’s orders have said they will appeal.

More could follow before the window to submit appeals closes at midnight on December 30.

Ms Zavarro told French media that Dominique Pelicot – who pleaded guilty – had decided not to appeal because she did not want to inflict a “new trial” on Ms Pelicot, who attended the court for the majority part of the 15-week process. .

“He felt that this decision was in line with the position he had always taken in the trial, namely that Ms. Pelicot was not and had never been his adversary,” Ms. Zavarro said, adding that Dominique Pelicot wanted to “be done” with this case.

You will need to be present in court as a witness during the appeal process.

Although Mrs. Pelicot is not required to attend the proceedings, her lawyer Stéphane Babonneau told the French media that she “will face those who have appealed. She is not afraid of this, even if she had I’d obviously prefer it to end here.”

Under French law, a new trial must be held within the next 12 months. However, unlike the first trial, it will be judged by three magistrates and a jury made up of nine members of the public.

Although this does not necessarily result in harsher sentences, the trial’s immense publicity and media coverage may mean that juries end up being less lenient than judges.

Although they will be thoroughly vetted, “jury members are human like you and me and they can also have preconceptions,” lawyer Hansu Yalaz told the BBC.

Among the men who have appealed are Charly Arbo, now 30, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison for raping Ms Pelicot on six separate occasions when she was in her early 20s.

Construction worker Simoné Mekenese, 43, and nurse Redouane El Farihi, 55, who were sentenced to nine and eight years respectively, are also appealing.

Many of the men claimed that they were “manipulated” by Pelicot to rape his wife, and that they did not know that she had not given her consent.

“From the beginning, my client said that he … never intended to violate Gisele Pelicot,” Mekenese’s lawyer Yannick Prat said, adding that the nine-year prison sentence was “disproportionate.”

He admitted the prospect of facing a popular jury could result in a stronger sentence, but said he would be “absolutely happy” to work with jurors.

“I would ask them to put themselves in the shoes of each party in this process,” he said.

Lawyer Louis-Alain Lemaire said one of his clients, who was sentenced to eight years in prison, is appealing the guilty verdict as “there was no criminal intent on his part”.

But other defense lawyers think an appeal would be a risky gamble.

On the day the verdicts were handed down, lawyer Patrick Gontard told the BBC that while appeals are usually brought in the hope of knocking a few years off a prison sentence, all the men – including his client – had already been sentenced to lighter sentences than. had been asked by the prosecutor.

Dominique Pelicot – whom his daughter Caroline once called “one of the worst sexual predators of the last 20 years” – drugged, raped and incited others to rape his wife Gisèle for at least a decade.

He filmed many of the rapes, which allowed investigators to track dozens of men. Fifty were eventually arrested, but about 20 individuals have never been identified and are believed to be still at large.

The court found 47 of the men guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape, and two guilty of sexual assault.

Six men were allowed to walk free by the court, in most cases because of the time they had already spent in pretrial detention.

The proceedings – which lasted from September to December – attracted worldwide attention thanks to Gisèle Pelicot’s decision to renounce her anonymity and open the process to the public and the media.

She said she did it to help other rape victims: “I want them to say: if Madame Pelicot did it, I can too.”

“Victims of rape are often ashamed, but it is not on us to be ashamed. It is on them,” he said.