'Unbelievably violent': Gisele Pelicot, French victim of mass rape, takes the stand

AVIGNON, France -

Content warning: This article contains disturbing content.

Gisele Pelicot, the 72-year-old victim of mass rape whose ordeal has shocked the world, told a trial in southern France on Wednesday that she was determined that making her case public should help other women and change society.

Dominique Pelicot, her husband, has admitted to inviting dozens of strangers over nearly ten years to their house to rape her after he had drugged her. Fifty other men also stand trial, accused of raping her.

Gisele Pelicot, her voice often shaking with emotion, told the court she was destroyed by what happened to her. She said how "unbelievably violent" it was for her that many of the accused in the trial, which started on Sept.2, said they thought she agreed to the rapes or was faking sleeping.

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"I've decided not to be ashamed, I've done nothing wrong," Gisele Pelicot, who has become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence, told the court in Avignon.

She said she had insisted the trial be held publicly, and not behind closed doors, as is often the case to protect rape victims, in the hope it would help other rape victims.

"They (rapists) are the ones who must be ashamed," she said, adding that having videos, filmed by her husband, of some of her rapes, shown during the trial, was "very difficult but necessary."

"I'm not expressing hatred or hate, but I am determined that things change in this society," said Gisele Pelicot.

Protests have been organized across France to show support for Gisele Pelicot, with many women expressing admiration for her courage.

"It's not courage. It's determination to change things," she said. "This is not just my battle, but that of all rape victims."

Most of the accused told the court they have been manipulated by Dominique Pelicot, projecting the blame on him. Only a few have admitted to raping Gisele Pelicot.

Some have apologized.

"I hear those apologies, but they are inaudible," she told the court. "By apologizing, they are trying to excuse themselves."

Saying her husband's betrayal of her trust was beyond measure, Gisele Pelicot told the court: "I'm a woman who's totally destroyed."

She had thought he was the perfect husband, she told the court, before adding: "My life has tumbled into nothingness."

(Reporting by Marc Leras in Avignon; Writing by Ingrid Melander, Editing by Alexandra Hudson)