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Following an agonising public trial that spanned several months and shook the nation of France – and the world – guilty verdicts and prison sentences were issued on Thursday 19 December for Dominique Pelicot and all 51 men who he invited to his house to rape his drugged and unconscious wife, Gisèle Pelicot, over the course of several years.

Having become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence, Gisèle paid tribute to sexual violence victims around the world who are still fighting for justice and safety.

“I want you to know that we share the same fight,” she said after hearing the verdicts on the final day of the trial. “When I opened the doors to this trial that began on 2 September, I wanted all of society to be a witness to the debates that took place here… I now have confidence in our capacity to find a better future where everyone, women and men alike, can live in harmony with respect and mutual understanding.”

She also said that she was thinking “of the unrecognised victims, whose stories often remain in the shadows.”

It’s a trial that became more disturbing with each detail we learned: a French man accused of drugging and raping his wife, Gisèle Pelicot, 72, and inviting up to 90 men to do the same over a period of more than 10 years. The 71-year-old defendant Dominique Pelicot admitted to charges, telling the French court: “I am a rapist just like all the others in this room.”

Prosecutors say Dominique offered sex with his wife on a website and filmed the abuse, footage of which police found while searching for evidence relating to him filming up women’s skirts in a supermarket.

But as the horrifying case continued, the victim at its centre was rightfully hailed for her courage by women across France and beyond. Gisèle opened up important dialogue around rape – including, but not limited to, marital rape, consent and chemical submission – and the laws surrounding it.

When she took the stand for the first time in the case, Gisèle told the court that she wants women who have been raped to know that “it’s not for us to have shame – it’s for them.”

She said she wanted to lift the shame felt by rape victims. “I wanted all woman victims of rape – not just when they have been drugged, rape exists at all levels – I want those women to say: Mrs Pelicot did it, we can do it too.”

Gisèle waived her right to anonymity during the trial, a brave and unusual decision that her legal team explained would shift ‘shame’ back to the accused rapists, rather than the victim. By bringing the trial out from behind closed doors (where defence lawyers wanted it to remain), Gisèle said that she was testifying “for all women” who have been assaulted while drugged, in an effort to ensure “no women suffers this.”

Her courageous decision to waive anonymity also meant unsettling details about the case were made public and videos of the alleged rapes were played in an open court. Gisèle’s only condition is that her children would be allowed to leave the room when this happened.

During the trial, hundreds of protestors gathered on the streets of France to show their support and raise awareness. In Paris, people were reportedly heard chanting, ‘We are all Gisèle’ and ‘Rapist we see you, victim we believe you’, while carrying placards bearing slogans like ‘Je suis Gisèle’.

Earlier on in the trial, Gisèle told the court: “They regarded me like a rag doll, like a garbage bag… I no longer have an identity. I don’t know if I’ll ever rebuild myself.” But in a response issued outside court later on, she thanked protestors and sounded emboldened by the support displayed.

“Thanks to you all I have the strength to fight this to the end,” she said. “I dedicate this fight to all people, women and men, who are victims of sexual violence across the world. To all those victims I say today look around you, you are not alone.” Her message has been heard loud and clear across France – and now it’s time the world watches and learns.

Images: Getty