French President Emmanuel Macron has paid tribute to Gisele Pellicot for the strength she showed in the trial of the mass rape of her husband and 50 other men.
Describing her as a pioneer for women, he said her “dignity and courage touched and inspired France and the world”.
Her ex-husband Dominic Pellico, 72, was jailed for a maximum of 20 years for aggravated rape after admitting he drugged her for almost a decade and recruited dozens of men to rape her while she lay in a coma in bed.
After 50 other men received lesser sentences, Giselle Pellicot said the trial had been a difficult ordeal but she believed in a future where women and men could “live in harmony with respect and mutual understanding”.
Her decision to give up her anonymity and open the trial to the public brought global attention to the issues of drug-induced rape and sexual violence.
Judges in Avignon in southern France found all 51 defendants, aged between 27 and 74, guilty, but Giselle Pellicot's lawyer said on Friday that “no sentence will bring back her ruined life”.
Her three children were said to be disappointed that many of the sentences were shorter than the terms sought by prosecutors. They ranged from three to 15 years, instead of the maximum of 18 requested by prosecutors.
Forty-one of the men were immediately sent to prison, the reports said. Many of those convicted are likely to appeal their convictions.
Dominic Pellico's lawyer said he was “somewhat stunned” by his 20-year sentence and would decide whether to appeal in the coming days. Judges say he will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
Anti-sexual assault activists were in court during the trial and hoped it could lead to reform of French rape laws and change the debate about rape culture and drug-induced sexual violence.
“Shame changes sides” became one of the slogans of the trial, and in a sign of the trial's importance, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz thanked Giselle Pellicot for giving women around the world a “strong voice”.
“Shame is always on the perpetrator,” Scholz added.
One of her lawyers, Antoine Camus, told France Info radio on Friday that the trial would serve as a “building block” and that by making the proceedings public, Giselle Pellicot had tried to give society an opportunity “to deal with (the problems) and ask the right questions”.
French National Assembly Speaker Yael Braun Pivet said a taboo had been broken: “The world is no longer the same thanks to you.”
Former French prime minister Gabriel Atal hoped the mass-rape trial would send a “shock wave” through the education of every young boy – “because this is where the fight for equality and respect begins”.