A French court on Thursday sentenced Dominique Pelicot, the ex-husband of Gisele Pelicot, to 20 years imprisonment for repeatedly drugging her and recruiting dozens of other men to rape her while she was unconscious in a case that stunned France and the world.

A court found the husband of Gisèle Pelicot guilty of aggravated rapes and all other charges against him in the mass rape trial that has shocked France.

A French court found all 51 defendants guilty on Thursday in a drugging-and-rape case that horrified the world and transformed the victim, Gisele Pelicot, into a stirring symbol of courage and resilience.

A panel of five judges in France is delivering verdicts on Thursday for more than four dozen men charged with aggravated rape and sexual assault on Gisèle Pelicot in a historic case that has profoundly shaken the country over the past several months.

Dominique Pelicot was found guilty of repeatedly drugging and raping his wife, Gisèle Pelicot, and orchestrating her abuse by dozens of other men.

Dominique Pélicot, 72, admitted to drugging his wife, Gisèle Pélicot, 72, and filming the rapes for nearly a decade from 2011 to 2020 in their home in France

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.

Pelicot, 72, was accused of orchestrating the mass rape of his wife without her knowledge. Judges delivered his verdict alongside 50 others, in a case that stunned France.

Five French judges will deliver their verdicts on Thursday in a mass rape case against 51 men that has appalled the world and transformed the victim, Gisele Pelicot, into a stirring symbol of courage and resilience.

Dominique Pelicot, 72, is jailed for 20 years for drugging and raping his ex-wife, and recruiting strangers to rape her.