France mass rape: Dominique Pelicot has decided not to appeal, says lawyer

The Frenchman found guilty of drugging and raping his then-wife and soliciting dozens of men to do the same for more than a decade will not appeal his conviction, his lawyer said Monday.

Dominique Pelicot was convicted and jailed for 20 years earlier this month after a trial that horrified France and beyond, while 50 co-defendants were also convicted and handed various sentences of between three and 15 years.

Gisele Pelicot was hailed as a hero for her courage and dignity throughout the three-month trial.

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"Dominique Pelicot has taken the decision to not appeal the verdict," his lawyer Beatrice Zavarro told AFP and Franceinfo.

An appeal "would force Gisele (Pelicot) to undergo a new ordeal, new confrontations, which Dominique Pelicot refuses" to do, Zavarro said, adding that "it is time to finish judicially".

Monday is the last day for the defendants to file appeals, and 17 of Pelicot's co-defendants have already done so, according to Zavarro.

The convicted ringleader had been "astonished to see these appeals, especially (from) individuals who in the dock apologised to Gisele Pelicot," Zavarro said.

"It seems to me that filing an appeal contradicts those words."

Following the guilty verdicts at the end of December, one of Gisele Pelicot's lawyers said she had no fear of a new trial.

"If it were to happen, she has already indicated to us that she would face it -- if she is healthy, obviously, since she is a lady who is now 72," Stephane Babonneau told France Inter radio.

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"In any case, she has no fear of it, that is what she told us."

Gisele Pelicot has been praised for refusing to waive her right to a closed trial, saying she wanted to turn the tables on the shame associated with rape from victims to perpetrators.