Pelicot trial to end with verdicts and hope of change

The mass rape trial that has sent shockwaves through France and horrified the world is expected to end today with the conviction of Dominique Pelicot, who has admitted drugging his ex-wife, Gisèle, and inviting strangers into their bedroom to rape her.

- Kim Willsher

Pelicot, a retired electrician and estate agent, is expected to be given the maximum 20-year jail term the public prosecutor has demanded at the trial in Avignon, which lasted three-and-a-half months.

Fifty other men accused alongside him, most of whom deny the charges, face sentences ranging from 10 to 18 years for those accused of aggravated rape and four years for one accused of sexual aggression. One man is on the run and being tried in his absence.

They were invited to address the court for the last time on Monday. A dozen apologized to Gisèle Pelicot, while a handful insisted they "had not intended" to rape and were therefore not rapists. Others said they had nothing to add.

Dominique Pelicot, 72, used his final words from behind the glass dock to salute the "courage" of his ex-wife who he said had faced the "innuendo of complicity".

This followed suggestions early in the trial that she had been a willing participant in her abuse, suspicions rapidly dismissed by videos he had made of the rapes that were shown during the hearing.