Five unanswered questions from the process

French rape survivor Giselle Pellicot walked out of a court in southern France for the last time on Thursday after her ex-husband was sentenced to 20 years in prison for drugging and raping her and inviting dozens of strangers to abused her for almost a decade.

Dominique Pellicot, 72, was found guilty of all charges by a judge in Avignon. He was tried with 50 other men, all of whom were found guilty of at least one count, although their prison terms were less than prosecutors had sought.

Although the trial is over, there are still questions hanging over the Pellicott case and what will happen next.

When she walked up the steps of the court in Avignon for the first time in September, no one knew Giselle Pellicot's name. Over the course of the next 15 weeks, her fame as a rape victim who refused to be ashamed of what had been done to her skyrocketed.

By the time she left the tribunal Thursdaycrowds of hundreds chanted her name and her picture was on the front pages of newspapers around the world.

Now she is perhaps one of the most famous women in France. This means that even though she has changed her name, it will be impossible for her to return to the anonymity that has served her so well as she tries to rebuild her life after the revelations of her husband's crimes.

Gisele is not the first person whose unimaginable suffering has made her an icon. At great personal cost, she became a symbol of a fight she never chose. It seems unlikely, then, that she would want to become an outspoken activist against gender-based violence or a prominent feminist figure. Rather, she can return to what she says has always brought her comfort: music, long walks and chocolate – as well as her seven grandchildren.

“At the beginning of the trial she said, 'If I last two weeks, that will be a lot.' It ended up being three and a half months,” said her lawyer Stefan Babono. “She's calm now and relieved it's over.”

Days after Dominic Pellico's crimes came to light, his daughter Carolyn Darian was called to the police station and shown photos of an apparently unconscious woman wearing unfamiliar underwear. She later said her life “stopped” when she realized she was looking at pictures of herself.

Her father has always denied touching her, but Caroline – whose anguish and devastation was evident in many court appearances – said she would never believe him and accused him of looking at her “with blood-curdling eyes”.

But the lack of evidence of the abuse Caroline believes she was subjected to has led her to say she is the “forgotten victim” of the trial. This notion apparently seeped into her relationship with her mother. In her memoir – published after her father's arrest – she accused Gisele of not showing her enough support, implicitly choosing to side with her rapist ex-husband over her daughter.

Although Gisele and her children have always sat side by side in court, often whispering to each other, snuggled together, there are signs of the impact the trial has had on their relationship.

On Friday, Caroline's brother David stressed – as he has done before – that the trial was not just about Gisele, but about their whole “destroyed family”.

“We kids felt forgotten,” he said. “Honestly, I think that while our lawyers did an outstanding job of defending our mother, we were a little bit under-regarded.”

In her memoir, Caroline laments Giselle's “denial as a coping mechanism.”

“Because of my father,” she wrote, “now I lose my mother.”

With the exception of Dominique, all of the defendants' prison terms were less than what prosecutors had asked for.

Several lawyers were visibly pleased, meaning they are unlikely to encourage their clients to appeal their convictions. A man named Jean-Pierre Maréchal got 12 years – five less than prosecutors had asked for – and his lawyer Patrick Gontard told the BBC it was “out of the question” for him to appeal.

The months or years spent in pre-trial detention will count towards their overall sentence, meaning some could be released soon if they have served their minimum term.

One man, who faced 17 years, was eventually sentenced to eight years in prison, and his lawyer, Roland Marmilot, told the BBC that because he had already spent several years in prison, he was likely to be released relatively soon.

However, by the morning after the trial ended, two men, who had each been jailed for eight years, had already appealed. More are expected to follow in the next ten days – the time period for which appeals can be filed.

Dominique Pellicot admitted to assaulting and attempting to rape a 23-year-old real estate agent, known only as Marion, in the suburbs of Paris in 1999. A cloth soaked in ether was placed over her mouth, but she managed to fight off the attacker and he escaped. It wasn't until 2021, after he was arrested for the crimes he inflicted on his wife Giselle, that Pellico's DNA was cross-checked with a spot of blood found on Marion's shoe, and he admitted his guilt.

However, he denied any responsibility in another cold case, the 1991 rape and murder. of another young real estate agent, Sophie Narme, for whom there is no DNA. Investigators say the two cases have too many similarities to be coincidental.

Other cold cases where similar modi operandi were used are also being re-examined.

“There will be a 'before' and there will be an 'after' of the Pellicot trial,” one Parisian told the BBC in the early days of the trial.

For many, that feeling has only grown in the past few months, during which intense media coverage of the Pellicott trial has spawned countless conversations around rape, consent, and gender-based violence.

“What we need to do is have much, much tougher sentences,” Nicolas and Mehdi, two residents of Mazan, told the BBC. They said they were “disgusted” when they realized one of the accused was a man they had played football with.

“With longer sentences, they will at least think twice before doing things like this,” they said, adding that it was “crazy unfair” that some of the men would be released from prison in the next few months.

It's worth noting, however, that the risk of a 20-year prison sentence for aggravated rape did not stop Dominic Pellico from offering to have his unconscious wife raped by strangers he met online.

There have been calls to reform French rape law to include consent, but this has stalled in the past and will take significant work in the current divided French parliament.

Some argue that schools have a responsibility to better teach new generations about sex, love and consent. Beatrice Zavaro, Dominic Pellico's attorney, said she believes “change will not come from the Department of Justice, but from the Department of Education.”

Françoise, a resident of the area where Giselle and Dominique Pellicot lived, told the BBC she thought a way had to be found to bridge the gap between what children learn in schools and the type of material they get to have online access.

“Young people are so exposed to sex on the internet and at the same time schools are very lenient,” she said. “They need to be much more open and honest about matching and explaining what children see.”

What these exchanges show is that while it will take time for any changes to become tangible, the conversation has already begun. It will continue until there are no more unanswered questions.