Pelicot trial Prosecutors seek 20-year jail term for rapist husband

French prosecutors have demanded that Dominique Pelicot be jailed for 20 years, the maximum available sentence, for having drugged and raped his wife, Gisèle, and invited at least 70 strangers to rape and abuse her over a decade.

- Kim Willsher

The demand came as the French government announced new measures to combat violence against women, including raising awareness about the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse.

The assistant state prosecutor Laure Chabaud said the sentence sought against Pelicot was "at the same time long but not long enough given the gravity of the facts that were committed and repeated".

"His search for pleasure was reflected in a desire to subjugate his wife, to humiliate and even degrade through his actions and words the person he cherished most in the world," Chabaud told the court in Avignon where Pelicot and 50 other men have been on trial since September.

Pelicot has admitted the charges. Most of the others have admitted abusing Gisèle Pelicot but denied rape, suggesting they thought they were taking part in a couple's fantasy.

The lawyers for 33 have made a special plea that their clients were acting under diminished responsibility.