Main suspect Dominique Pelicot accepts 20-year sentence, while seventeen others convicted appeal

nîmes - The main suspect in a criminal case, Dominique Pelicot, has accepted a 20-year prison sentence, whereas seventeen other convicted individuals have decided to appeal against their verdicts.

The deadline to file an appeal runs until Monday evening, as reported by Belga. So far, 17 convicts have availed themselves of this opportunity, according to the Attorney General Xavier Bonhomme.

Dominique Pelicot was sentenced to 20 years in prison on December 19 and received by far the heaviest penalty. He drugged and raped his then-wife, Gisèle Pelicot, for nine years, from July 2011 to October 2020. Additionally, he invited dozens of men to do the same to his unconscious wife. The atrocities occurred in their family home in Mazan, a town in Southern France. Pelicot recorded the crimes and kept the footage on his computer. Allegedly, he also raped his daughters, although this is still under investigation.

Thanks to this footage, fifty more men were identified and convicted. One of them was found guilty of molestation, while the remaining 49 were convicted of rape. None of the defendants were acquitted.

Dominique Pelicot was ultimately caught in the act when he was caught filming under the skirts of female customers in a supermarket. Subsequently, explicit footage was discovered on his phone by the authorities.

The appeal trial is scheduled for the last four months of 2025.