Gisèle Pelicot will receive France’s highest national honour for her role in helping bring her rapist husband to justice. Dominique Pelicot, who drugged her and invited dozens of men he met online to assault her while she was unconscious, was ultimately convicted thanks to her testimony.
Ahead of Bastille Day, President Emmanuel Macron praised Gisèle for her “dignity and courage [that] moved and inspired France and the world.” She waived her right to anonymity and testified at the criminal trial of her husband, Dominique Pelicot, 72, who was sentenced to the maximum of 20 years in prison for aggravated rape. He admitted to drugging his wife and orchestrating assaults by around 50 men over a period of at least ten years.
The trial sparked wider debate about public morality and the influence of pornography, with some attempting to politicise the case by blaming ‘the patriarchy.’ But none of that should overshadow Gisèle Pelicot’s extraordinary bravery in confronting her depraved husband and exposing his network of abusers.
