Gisèle Pelicot spoke of her “very difficult ordeal” after 51 men were convicted Thursday in the drugging-and-rape trial that riveted France and turned her into an icon, expressing support for other victims whose cases don’t get attention and “whose stories remain untold.” “I want you to know that we share the same fight,” she said after the court in the southern French city of Avignon imposed prison sentences ranging from three to 20 years, reports the Associated Press. Pelicot’s ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, and all but one of his co-defendants were convicted of sexually assaulting her over nearly a decade after he’d knocked her unconscious by lacing her food and drink with drugs. The other co-defendant was convicted of drugging and raping his own wife with Dominique Pelicot’s help.
As campaigners against sexual violence protested outside the courthouse, Gisèle Pelicot, 72, 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.” Pelicot, a hero to many for demanding that all the evidence be heard in open court, said she was thinking of her grandchildren after enduring the more than three-month trial. "It's also for them that I led this fight,” she said of her grandkids. “I wanted all of society to be a witness to the debates that took place here. I never regretted making this decision. I have trust in our capacity to collectively project ourselves toward a future where all, women and men, can live in harmony, with respect and mutual understanding."
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