AVIGNON, France (AP) — A court in France on Thursday sentenced Gisèle Pelicot’s ex-husband to a maximum of 20 years in prison for drugging and raping her and allowing other men to rape her while she was unconscious. The abuse lasted almost a decade.

The verdict against Dominique Pelicot was announced after he was found guilty of all charges against him. At age 72, it could mean he spends the rest of his life in prison.

The verdict was read by the chief judge of the Avignon court, Roger Arata.

Arata read out verdicts one by one against Pelicot and 50 other men, declaring: “You are therefore found guilty of the aggravated rape of Madame. Gisèle Pelicot,” as he worked his way through the first names on the list.

Gisèle Pelicot sat on one side of the courtroom, watching the defendants as Arata announced one guilty verdict after another.

The historic case has deeply shaken France in recent months.

Dominique Pelicot admitted that for years he drugged his then-wife of 50 years into unconsciousness so that he and strangers he recruited online could abuse her while he filmed the assaults.

The horrific ordeal inflicted on Gisèle Pelicot, now a 72-year-old grandmother, in what she said was a loving marriage of nearly a decade, and her courage during the painful and shocking process, have transformed the retired power company worker into a feminist heroine Nation.

The trial, which spanned more than three months, mobilized activists against sexual violence and sparked calls for tougher measures to eradicate rape culture.

Dominique Pelicot and 49 other men were tried in the southern French city of Avignon on charges of aggravated rape and attempted rape and face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors sought the maximum sentence for him and 10 to 18 years for the others. They also sought a four-year prison sentence for another defendant who was charged with aggravated sexual assault.

Of the 50 men accused of rape, only one was acquitted but found guilty of aggravated sexual assault.

The defendants were accused of taking part in Dominique Pelicot’s sordid rape and abuse fantasies, which were played out at the couple’s retirement home in the small Provence town of Mazan and elsewhere.

Dominique Pelicot testified that he hid sedatives in the food and drinks he gave his then-wife, rendering her so unconscious that he could do whatever he wanted to her for hours.

One of the men was on trial not for attacking Gisèle Pelicot, but for drugging and raping his own wife – with the help and drugs of Dominique Pelicot, who was also on trial for raping the other man’s wife.

The five justices voted on their sentences by secret ballot, with a majority vote required for both conviction and those found guilty.

Activists against sexual violence hope for exemplary prison sentences and see the trial as a possible turning point in the fight against rape culture and the use of drugs to oppress victims.

Gisèle Pelicot’s courage, as a survivor of sexual abuse, to renounce her right to anonymity and to successfully advocate for the hearings and shocking evidence – including videos – to be heard publicly has raised eyebrows both at the national level in France and among families, Couples and other friend groups engaged in discussions about how to better protect women and the role men can play in achieving this goal.

“Men are starting to talk to women – their girlfriends, mothers and boyfriends – in ways they didn’t before,” said Fanny Foures, 48, who joined other women from the feminist group Les Amazones in messages of support for Gisèle Pelicot plastered walls around Avignon before the verdict.

“It was awkward at first, but now real dialogues are happening,” she said.

“Some women may be realizing for the first time that their ex-husbands have hurt them or that someone close to them has committed abuse,” Foures added. “And men are starting to reckon with their own behavior or complicity – things they have ignored or failed to act on. It’s hard, but it creates change.”

A large banner that activists hung on a city wall opposite the courthouse read: “MERCI GISELE” – Thank you, Gisèle.

Police first became aware of Dominique Pelicot in September 2020 when a supermarket security guard caught him secretly filming women’s skirts.

Police then found his library of homemade images documenting his wife’s years of abuse – a total of more than 20,000 photos and videos, stored on computer drives and cataloged in folders labeled “abuse,” “her rapists,” “night alone.” and other titles.

The abundance of evidence led the police to the other defendants. Investigators counted 72 different perpetrators in the videos, but were unable to identify them all.

Although some of the defendants – including Dominique Pelicot – admitted they were guilty of rape, many did not, even in the face of video evidence.

The hearings sparked a broader debate in France about whether the country’s legal definition of rape should be expanded to include explicit mention of consent.

Some defendants argued that Dominique Pelicot’s consent also affected his wife.

Some tried to excuse their behavior by insisting that they had not intended to rape anyone when they responded to their husband’s invitations to come to their home.

Some blamed him, saying he led them to believe they were engaging in consensual sex.