French mass rape trial adjourns ahead of verdict expected on December 19

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00:00It is a trial that is significant because of both its scope and horror.

00:0451 accused. Nearly a decade of drug-facilitated sexual assault.

00:08With these mass rapes orchestrated by the victim, Gisèle Pellicot's then-husband.

00:14But it is also a trial that is significant because it touches on the tragically commonplace.

00:19It speaks to the experiences and fears of so many women and men.

00:24It begs the world to question society's view and treatment of rape.

00:28For the thousands who've protested against sexual violence since the trial began,

00:32and for the women and men who've come out daily to support Gisèle Pellicot,

00:36this must be a turning point.

00:38Madame Pellicot is truly admirable.

00:40She's an example for all the women who want to lodge a complaint but haven't.

00:44There will indeed be a before and an after Madame Pellicot.

00:51This is the history of women.

00:53It's a condensed concentration of all the pain,

00:57the unspoken words and the injustice.

01:00This woman, she's opened the floodgates of something.

01:04At last, at long last, we're being heard.

01:09And at last, no one can say that's not true.

01:16When Gisèle Pellicot's trial began in Avignon in September,

01:19she explained her decision to hold an open trial as a means

01:22for the shame associated with rape to switch sides.

01:26That message and her courage has struck a chord in France and worldwide.

01:30In his final testimony,

01:31her now ex-husband, who pleaded guilty, also saluted her courage.

01:36The five judges in the case will now have to decide

01:38whether he'll receive the maximum sentence of 20 years.

01:41For the 50 other accused, they will also have to weigh the defence's arguments.

01:46Some of the accused claim that they were manipulated by Dominique Pellicot.

01:50Others denied that their filmed acts were rape.

01:54Her lawyers say they should have understood

01:56what has become a rallying cry among many women that rape is rape.

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