Sawt Falasteen - Court moves to sentencing in French mass rape trial

Chief defendant Dominique Pelicot has since September been in the dock in southern city Avignon along with 49 other men for organising the rapes and sexual abuse of his now ex-wife Gisele Pelicot.

The case has shocked a France still working through its version of the MeToo movement, with the latest demonstrations calling for increased protection against sexual violence bringing out tens of thousands on Saturday.

Its impact has been relayed around the world, with 57 of the 138 media organisations covering the trial from outside France.

On Thursday, the president of Chile's parliament hailed Gisele Pelicot's "courage and dignity", calling her "an ordinary citizen who has taught the whole world a lesson".

Beyond Dominique Pelicot, who has admitted to all of the charges, prosecutors must decide on appropriate potential punishments for the other defendants, men aged 26 to 74 and from all walks of life.

Many argued in court that they believed Dominique Pelicot's claim they were participating in a libertine fantasy, in which his then-wife had consented to sexual contact and was only pretending to be asleep.

Among them, 33 have also claimed they were not in their right minds when they abused or raped Gisele Pelicot -- a defence not backed up by any of the psychological reports compiled by court-appointed experts.

Sentencing requests are slated to take three full days in the court's agenda, with prosecutors themselves estimating an average of 15 minutes per defendant.

As 11 weeks of hearings about the facts of the case drew to a close last week, Gisele Pelicot's lawyer Antoine Camus called for "truth and justice" to be rendered to the plaintiff as well as her three children, David, Caroline and Florian, her step-children Celine and Aurore, and her grandchildren.

The court's five judges will not issue their ruling on the sentences until late December.

- 20 years maximum -

The serious rape charges levelled at most of the accused carry a maximum sentence of 20 years.

As the orchestrator of his ex-wife's abuse, Dominique Pelicot appears likely to receive the full penalty.

He has himself said he wants to go to prison for drugging Gisele Pelicot with anti-anxiety drugs regularly from July 2011 to October 2020, leaving her vulnerable to abuse by strangers recruited online.

Dominique Pelicot documented the crimes extensively in photos and videos later discovered by police after he was caught filming up women's skirts in public.

Prosecutors may also ask the maximum penalty for fellow defendant Jean-Pierre M., now aged 63, who applied Dominique Pelicot's practices against his own wife to rape her a dozen times, sometimes in the presence of Pelicot himself.

Of the remaining accused, 35 completely deny taking part in a rape.

Observers will be watching whether prosecutors ask for heavier penalties for those who came to rape Gisele Pelicot multiple times -- some of them as many as six -- than for those who answered Dominique Pelicot's invitation only once.

After Dominique Pelicot, two men accused of sexual assault and attempted rape will be dealt with first by prosecutors, before they move on to the defendants on trial for rape.

Defence lawyers will have their turn to speak from Wednesday afternoon or Thursday, with Dominique Pelicot's lawyer Beatrice Zavarro up first.

Judges are expected to rule by December 20 at the latest on the sentencing.

E.Aziz--SF-PST