"I feel disappointed and humiliated." Anger as some escape long sentences in Pelicot case
Campaigners wanted strong sentences handed down to the men found guilty of raping Gisèle Pelicot, arguing that all involved were just as culpable as her former husband Dominique.
While Dominique Pelicot received the maximum 20-year-sentence, other men were given shorter sentences than expected, including a few who walked free after receiving suspended sentences.
A women’s rights campaigner, Olympe Desanges, said “as a woman and as a feminist, I feel disappointed and humiliated by these verdicts.”
Nedeljka Macan, from Mazan, the small town where the crimes took place, told CNN on the phone she was “shocked because the sentences are much shorter than what we had expected. All those men who are walking free today, it’s an insult!”
But a source close to the case said judges deliberately wanted to differentiate the sentences to differentiate between the seriousness of the crimes. They also hope that by handing down varying sentences, it will limit the number of appeals lodged, the source said.
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