Judges in France are to hand down verdicts on 51 men this morning, in a mass rape trial that has shocked the country
Warning: This page contains distressing details, including descriptions of alleged sexual offences
Dominique Pelicot, 72, is accused of drugging his ex-wife, Gisèle, raping her and inviting dozens of men to also abuse her over nearly a decade
He's on trial with 50 other men, the majority of whom deny charges of rape
Giving evidence last month, Gisèle said: "I will have to live with this for the rest of my life"
Gisèle waived her right to anonymity, saying she wanted to make "shame swap sides" from the victim to the rapist
Gisèle Pelicot arrives to supporters cheers at Avignon court
Laura Gozzi
Reporting from Avignon
Dominique Pelicot has arrived, according to other journalists here.
He's followed by other defendants who are already incarcerated and will be sitting in a glass box to the left of the courtroom.
Image source, EPAGisèle Pelicot with her lawyer Stéphane Babonneau
While we await the verdicts and sentences for the accused in the mass rape of Gisèle Pelicot, we can bring you some key lines from an interview with her lawyer, Stéphane Babonneau.
He tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme there is no sentence that would give her back the years she has lost, but that "all that she can expect now is for for justice".
He says it's impossible to understand the mindset of Gisèle's ex-husband, Dominique, saying the closest thing he said that may have answered why he did what he did was wanting to "submit an independent woman".
Asked about Gisèle's future, he says she is tired and relieved for the trial to be coming to an end.
"I told her that she has done her part of the job and now she should entrust this with society, the debates and how this needs to affect people’s thinking," he says.
"She does not want to be considered as an icon," he adds, saying she waived her right to anonymity and brought the case into the public eye in part to show other women that "they have a strength in them that they can’t even imagine and that they need to trust themselves. That’s her message."
You can listen to the full interview with Gisèle's lawyer here.
Laura Gozzi
Reporting from Avignon
Dominique Pelicot, 72, and his 50 co-defendants - accused of raping his wife Gisèle Pelicot at his behest - are assembled to hear their verdicts and sentences at a court in Avignon, France.
Gisèle, her children David, Florian and Caroline are there, accompanied by their two lawyers.
The president of the court, Roger Arata, should begin reading out the verdicts in the next few minutes.
We'll be bringing you live updates on this page. Stay with us.
Laura Gozzi
Reporting from Avignon
The defendants are trickling in one by one.
Several of them are coming into the courthouse carrying big bags - perhaps expecting to have to take them to jail later today.
One of them, a bald man in his 40s, looks angry as a photographer takes a photo of him and shoves him out the way.
Marianne Baisnee
Live reporter
Shortly after Gisèle Pelicot, one of the co-accused arrives at the courthouse in Avignon.
He's booed by the crowd and, as he enters the court, holds his middle finger up to them.
Gisèle Pelicot has arrived at the court in Avignon.
Supporters were heard applauding her as a crowd of journalists gathered around to take pictures.
Gisèle Pelicot arrives to supporters cheers at Avignon court
A selection of front pages from French newspapers this morning reflects the huge interest in today's verdicts in the country.
One says today will see "a verdict for the future", while another heralds "the hour of truth".
Other headlines show how deeply the case has resonated with the public: "One for all", one says. "A shaken generation," says another.
Image source, Libération'Mazan: A verdict for the future'
Image source, La Provence'The hour of truth'
Image source, Le Télégram'One for all'
Image source, La Croix'A shaken generation'
Could the Pelicot case reshape the way the France thinks about sexual assault?
In the latest episode of the BBC's Global Story podcast, Caitríona Perry speaks with Paris correspondent Andrew Harding about the trial of Dominique Pelicot and the 50 men who he allegedly persuaded to have sex with his wife after he had drugged her.
Harding says Gisèle Pelicot, who waived her right to privacy, has become a champion of justice and sexual abuse awareness as she faces her alleged abusers in court.
Listen to The Global Story here
Andrew Harding
Paris correspondent, reporting from Avignon
On the eve of the verdicts, one of the accused – a man who has already pleaded guilty to raping Gisèle Pelicot - lashed out at a “botched” and hurried mass trial involving all 51 accused.
The man, who we’ve agreed not to name as a condition for the interview, spoke to us through his daughter who also wished to remain anonymous.
The two were clearly close, and both sobbed as they contemplated a long and sleepless night followed by the possibility of a twelve-year prison sentence for the father, which is what the prosecution has demanded.
“There was not enough time (at the trial). For me it was botched work. Many people made their minds up right away,” said the daughter, sitting beside her father at their lawyer’s office in Avignon.
“I don’t say it is a total injustice. I admit that (my father) should perhaps be punished. He should have realised (that Gisèle Pelicot was not a consenting participant) and he should be punished for that. But he is someone who does not deserve prison at all. Ten years, fifteen years in prison, that’s not okay. It’s not fair,” said the daughter.
The accused, who was filmed performing a variety of sex acts on Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious body, spent eight months in prison before being released on bail ahead of the trial.
Through his daughter, the man argued, as so many of the accused have done, that he was “tricked” by Dominique Pelicot, and firmly believed that he was going to the couple’s house for a swinger’s threesome involving a fantasy that the woman – Gisèle Pelicot – would be asleep throughout.
“His first words to us (after his arrest) were ‘it’s not what you think, it’s not what they’ve told you, that’s not it,’” she said.
“My dad would not be (on trial) without Dominique Pelicot, of course. There would have been none of this. So, he is a victim, of course.”
Laura Gozzi
Reporting from Avignon
Image source, EPADays before the trial started, the Pelicots' divorce was finalised.
Gisèle has gone back to her maiden name. She went by the name Pelicot for the trial so that her grandchildren could be "proud" of being related to her and not ashamed of being associated to Dominique.
She has since moved to a village far from Mazan. She sees a psychiatrist but doesn't take any medication, because she no longer wants to ingest any substance. She continues to go on long walks, but is no longer tired.
In the early days of the trial, Gisèle's son-in-law, Pierre, took the stand.
A defence lawyer asked him about the Mazan years, when Gisèle was suffering from memory loss and her husband was dutifully accompanying her to unfruitful medical appointments. How could the family not have realised what was happening?
Pierre shook his head.
"You are forgetting one thing," he said. "You cannot imagine the unimaginable."
Caroline Darian, the daughter of Gisèle and Dominique Pelicot, has arrived, followed by her brothers.
She is met with applause by the dozens of people gathered outside, some of whom have been singing feminist chants for the last while.
Image source, Reuters
Image source, ReutersAs our reporter in Avignon Laura Gozzi just mentioned, long queues have formed outside the court where the 51 accused will hear their verdicts and sentences later today.
Image source, ReutersOf the many placards being held by members of the crowd, one reads: "So that shame changes sides"
Image source, ReutersTwo more say: "Stop violence against women" and "Justice for Gisele Pelicot"
Laura Gozzi
Reporting from Avignon
The sun is only just rising over the Avignon courthouse that has been the stage for this trial since early September, and there are well over a hundred people standing in the cold waiting to be allowed in for the last chapter - the verdict.
There’s a considerable police presence, too. Perhaps they’re worried there may be disturbances when the dozens of accused turn up.
New posters have appeared near the building, spelling out: “Shame has changed sides. Has justice?”
A large banner hangs over the walls of the old city right opposite the courthouse. It reads simply: "Thank you, Gisèle."
Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor
Image source, ReutersGisèle Pelicot has attended almost every day of the trial, appearing at the court in her sunglasses just before 09:00.
Her decision to waive her anonymity is highly unusual, but she has stood firm at every moment. "I want all women who have been raped to say: Madame Pelicot did it, I can too."
But she has been clear that behind her facade of strength "lies a field of ruins" and despite the widespread acclaim for what she has done, she is a reluctant hero.
"She keeps repeating, 'I am normal,' she does not want to be considered as an icon," her lawyer Stéphane Babonneau has told the BBC's Emma Barnett.
"Women generally have a strength in them that they can't even imagine and that they have to trust themselves. That's her message."
Laura Gozzi
Reporting from Avignon
Image source, ReutersCollectively, the defendants accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot are facing more than 600 years in jail
They are young, old, burly, thin, black and white. Among them are firefighters, lorry drivers, soldiers, security guards, a journalist and a DJ.
These are the 50 men accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot at the behest of her husband, Dominique Pelicot, 72, who drugged her for a decade with prescription sleeping pills.
The fact they broadly represent a microcosm of French society means they have been dubbed Monsieur-Tout-Le-Monde (Mr Everyman).
They are due to be sentenced today. If found guilty, collectively they face more than 600 years in jail.
A few of them acted defiant, but they mostly looked down as they answered questions from the judges, looking up occasionally to catch their lawyers' eyes for reassurance.
Most of the 50 all come from towns and villages in a 50km (30 mile) radius of the Pelicots' own village of Mazan.
Some defence lawyers have seen in their ordinariness a valuable line of defence. "Ordinary people do extraordinary things," said Antoine Minier, a lawyer representing three defendants.
"I think almost everybody could end up in a situation - well, maybe not exactly like this one - but could be susceptible to committing a serious crime," he told the BBC.
Laura Gozzi
Reporting from Avignon
In France, the trial has become known as the Affaire Mazan, after the village near Avignon where the Pelicots lived.
In November 2020, Dominique Pelicot admitted drugging his then-wife for almost a decade and recruiting dozens of men online to rape her in their home when she was unconscious.
Police tracked down his co-accused from thousands of videos they found on his laptop, although they were unable to identify an additional 21 men. Investigators said they have evidence of around 200 rapes carried out between 2011 and 2020.
The majority of the defendants deny the charges of rape, arguing that they cannot be guilty because they did not realise Gisèle Pelicot was unconscious and therefore did not "know" they were raping her.
That line of defence has sparked a nationwide discussion on whether consent should be added to France's legal definition of rape, currently defined as "any act of sexual penetration committed against another person by violence, constraint, threat or surprise".
The trial has also shone a light on the issue of chemical submission – drug-induced sexual assault.
Emily Atkinson
Live page editor
Image source, EPADominique Pelicot, 72, and his 50 co-defendants - accused of raping his wife Gisèle Pelicot at his behest - are expecting to hear their verdicts and sentences at a court in Avignon, France, today.
Warning: This page contains distressing details, including descriptions of alleged sexual offences.
Since the start of the trial on 2 September, Pelicot has admitted drugging his ex-wife, raping her, and inviting dozens of men to abuse her for over a decade.
The majority of the accused deny charges of rape. If found guilty, they face more than 600 years in jail collectively.
Our reporter, Laura Gozzi, will be in Avignon as the verdicts are read out. Stay with us.