Laura Gozzi
Reporting from Avignon

Many defence lawyers are mingling with journalists in the main hall.

They’re broadly very pleased with the sentences that were handed down to their clients.

Roland Marmillot tells me prosecutors had “exaggerated” with their sentencing requests.

"My clients never said Gisèle Pelicot was not a victim. They admitted she was, but said she was not their victim," he adds.

As I reported earlier, the sentences handed down were generally at least a couple of years lower than what had been asked for by prosecutors.

The Pelicot children are "disappointed" by the "low" sentences handed down, the AFP news agency quotes a family member as saying.

As our reporter in Avignon, Laura Gozzi, said earlier, the sentences handed down were generally at least a couple of years lower than what had been asked for by prosecutors.

Image source, Reuters

One activist tells the BBC that this case has been a "breakthrough" for her, and "so many other women".

"It just really made me treat my own experiences differently," Jamie Klingler tells the BBC News Channel.

It helped make her realise "this isn't down to us", she says, and that women in those scenarios "didn't deserve" to be treated like that.

As a reminder, we're still waiting for Gisèle Pelicot to exit the courthouse and make a statement to the press assembled outside.

Our reporters in Avignon tell us that the crowd there is growing, with many singing, chanting and holding up banners.

A line of women, pictured below, hold placards spelling out the slogan: "Shame changes sides."

Image source, Reuters

If you have been affected by the issues in this story, help and support is available via the BBC Action Line.

Laura Gozzi
Reporting from Avignon

More now from Patrick Gontard, the lawyer for Jean-Pierre Marechal who was sentenced to 12 years.

Earlier he said that his client would not be appealing the verdict.

He says he believes Marechal could be free in three years time, and advises his colleagues to think long and hard about whether they should appeal.

The president of France's National Assembly has thanked Gisèle Pelicot for her "courage".

In a post on X, Yaël Braun-Pivet says Pelicot carries through her "the voice of so many victims".

"The world is no longer the same thanks to you," she says.

Let's return again to Avignon, where the crowd assembled outside the courthouse can be heard singing and chanting.

Many women have come here to show their support for Gisèle Pelicot, and many have come throughout the trial.

They are singing a song for Gisèle, saying that from the women of all the world, we thank you.

Image source, Reuters

Andrew Harding
Reporting from Avignon

Image source, Reuters

There was a moment, a few weeks into the trial, when Gisèle Pelicot decided it was time to remove her sunglasses.

It wasn't just an acknowledgment of the fading autumn sunshine in the medieval southern French city of Avignon. It was also an indication that she'd passed a milestone – one of many that have marked her slow, painful journey from serene grandmother, to anguished and shame-haunted rape victim, to fearful courtroom witness, to global icon of courage and defiance.

"She had these sunglasses she used to hide her eyes… to protect her intimacy," said Stéphane Babonneau, the youthful criminal lawyer who for two years has guided Gisèle through the case against her ex-husband, Dominique and the 50 co-accused.

"But there was a point when she felt she no longer needed to protect herself. She didn't need [the glasses]," Babonneau explained, seizing on that moment as a way to illustrate the slow transformation of a "sincere… very humble person", who had begun the trial "extremely worried", shocked by the blaze of publicity, and still feeling "very ashamed of what had happened to her".

• Read on for more on this story

Image source, Reuters

Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer, Beatrice Zavarro, now gives a statement outside court.

She says her client will use the next 10 days to make a decision about whether to appeal the verdict.

The end of her statement is met by jeers from the crowd.

Image source, Reuters

We're hearing now from the various legal teams of those involved in the case.

Speaking outside the courtroom, Patrick Gontard, the lawyer for Jean-Pierre Marechal, says his client will not appeal the verdict.

• Marechal was sentenced to 12 years, after being found guilty of attempted rape and aggravated rape of his wife. He had admitted following Dominique Pelicot's lead by drugging his wife for five years, raping her and inviting Dominique to rape her too

It's important, Gontard says, that "it's the court which decided [the case], not public opinion".

He says Marechal is "satisfied" with the outcome.

Laura Gozzi
Reporting from Avignon

Dozens of journalists are crowded in the courthouse waiting for Gisèle and others involved in the trial to appear.

Image source, Reuters

Several police vehicles and prisons vans have been pictured parked up outside the court in Avignon to transport the men sentenced to time in jail.

Laura Gozzi
Reporting from Avignon

This is the scene Gisèle Pelicot and anyone else leaving the court will see.

Journalists and others are waiting outside for those involved in the case to leave.

Laura Gozzi
Reporting from Avignon

It's all wrapping up.

Gisèle rests her head against the wall. The family don't seem thrilled - not that they would be anyway given the circumstances - but, by my reckoning, all the defendants bar Dominique Pelicot got fewer years than had been asked by prosecutors.

And it's over. Everyone leaves the room.

Laura Gozzi
Reporting from Avignon

The sentencings have finished and there's a very calm atmosphere in the courtroom.

The defendants now have 10 days to appeal.

The president of the court, Roger Arata, says all the defendants now have time to speak to their lawyers before being taken to jail.

Laura Gozzi
Reporting from Avignon

Hassan Ouamou receives 12 years. The 30-year-old is currently on the run in Morocco. He has told investigators he has no intention of returning to France.

The mothers of two of the defendants have burst into tears in court.

The sentences continue to be read out:

Saifeddine Ghabi is sentenced to three years.

Romain Vandevelde is sentenced to 15 years, which is less than what prosecutors had asked for.

Ludovick Blemeur is sentenced to seven years.

Cedric Grassot is sentenced to 12 years.

Cendric Venzin is sentenced to nine years.

Laura Gozzi
Reporting from Avignon

There is a trend emerging here.

The sentences being handed down are generally at least a couple of years lower than what had been asked for by prosecutors.

Laura Gozzi
Reporting from Avignon

Patrice Nicolle is sentenced to eight years.

Grégory Serviol is sentenced to eight years.

Abdelali Dallal is sentenced to eight years, but walks free today due to medical issues and will need to placed in a special jail, according to the judge.

• The 47-year-old is one of the few men who pleaded guilty, admitting he knew at the time that Gisèle Pelicot was given sleeping pills.

Jean-Luc LA is sentenced to 10 years.

Quentin Hennebert is sentenced to seven years.

• The ex-prison guard was selling drugs on a now-closed unmoderated chatroom website when he met Dominique Pelicot. He admitted to rape but told the court he was “a little bit of a victim too”.