EPADominique Pellico, the 72-year-old man who drugged and raped his wife Giselle and recruited dozens of men to rape her over a decade, will not appeal his 20-year prison sentence, his lawyer Beatrice Zavaro said.
However, 17 of the 49 men who were convicted of raping or sexually assaulting Ms Pellicott at Dominique's behest said they would appeal.
More may follow before the appeals window closes at midnight on December 30.
Ms Zavaro told French media that Dominique Pellicault – who pleaded guilty – had decided not to appeal because she did not want to impose a “new trial” on Ms Pellicault, who was in court for most of the lengthy 15 week process.
“He felt that this decision was consistent with the position he had always taken in the trial, which was that Ms. Pellico was not and never had been his adversary,” Ms. Zavaro said, adding that Dominick Pellico wants to be “done” with this case.
He will have to attend court as a witness during the appeal process.
Although Ms. Pellicot is not required to attend the proceedings, her lawyer, Stéphane Baboneau, told French media that she would “face those who have appealed. She is not afraid of that, although she would obviously prefer everything to ended here”.
Under French law, a new trial will have to take place within the next 12 months. Unlike the first trial, however, it will be tried by three magistrates and a jury of nine members of the public.
While this won't necessarily lead to harsher sentences, the trial's enormous publicity and media coverage may mean that juries end up being less lenient than judges.
Although they will be scrutinized, “jury members are people like you and me and maybe they have biases,” lawyer Hansu Yalaz told the BBC.
Among the men who appealed is Charlie Arbaugh, now 30, who was jailed for 13 years for raping Ms Pellicott on six separate occasions when she was in her early 20s.
Construction worker Simone Mekeneze, 43, and nurse Redouane El Farihi, 55, who were jailed for nine and eight years respectively, have also appealed.
Many of the men claimed they were “manipulated” by Pellicott into raping his wife and that they did not know she had not given her consent.
“From the beginning, my client said that … he never intended to rape Giselle Pellicot,” Meckenese's lawyer Yannick Pratt said, adding that the nine-year prison sentence was “disproportionate.”
He admitted the prospect of facing a popular jury could lead to a harsher sentence, but said he would be “absolutely happy” to work with a jury.
Reuters“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, was appealing the conviction because “there was no criminal intent on his part.”
But other advocates believe an appeal would be a risky bet.
On the day of the sentencing, lawyer Patrick Gontard told the BBC that while appeals are usually made in the hope of shaving a few years off a prison sentence, all the men – including his client – had already received lighter sentences than had been asked by the prosecutor.
Dominique Pellico – 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 Giselle for at least a decade.
He filmed many of the rapes, allowing investigators to track down dozens of men. Fifty were eventually arrested, but around 20 individuals have never been identified and are believed to still be 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 released by the court, in most cases because of the time they had already spent in pre-trial detention.
The trial, which lasted from September to December, attracted worldwide attention thanks to Gisèle Pelicot's decision to renounce her anonymity and open the trial to the public and the media.
She said she did it to help other rape victims: “I want them to say: if Madame Pellico did it, so can I.”
“Rape victims are often ashamed, but the shame is not up to us. It's up to them,” she said.