Reuters
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Dominique Pelicot admitted drugging his wife and recruiting dozens of strangers to rape her over a period of nearly a decade. He asked his family for forgiveness as he told a French court on Tuesday: “I am a rapist.”

Pelicot’s hearing, the centerpiece of one of the most spectacular criminal trials in recent French history, had to be postponed last week for health reasons.

He faces several charges, including rape, gang rape and invasion of privacy through the recording and distribution of sexual images.

Pelicot appeared in court Tuesday morning using a cane and speaking to the judge through a microphone. His lawyer said he had been taking strong medication and was allowed to take breaks to lie down throughout the day.

“I am a rapist, just like everyone else in this room,” he said, adding: “I ask my wife, my children and my grandchildren to accept my apology. I regret what I did. I ask for forgiveness, even if it is not forgivable.”

The case shocked the country and sparked nationwide protests in support of his wife Gisele and against sexual violence against men.

Dominique Pelicot testified in court that he had had a difficult childhood and was himself a victim of rape. According to the French media, he sometimes cried.

Gisele Pelicot was present in the courtroom during her appearance and was greeted with applause by the audience when she left the courtroom during the breaks.

She insisted on a public trial to expose her husband and the other men accused of rape and thus became a symbol in the fight against sexual violence in France.

“For 50 years I lived with a man I never thought was capable of such rape,” she said.

Gisele Pelicot initiated divorce proceedings after meeting with investigators about the case.

When asked by one of the lawyers if he thought he could win back his former partner, Pelicot said: “It’s important to have hope. Otherwise it’s over… I was traumatized. It is partly thanks to her that I have forgotten those bad moments in my life.”

Prosecutors have said Dominique Pelicot, who was initially arrested after filming up a woman’s skirt in a supermarket, offered sex with his wife on a website called Coco and filmed the abuse.

In addition to Dominique Pelicot, 50 other men aged between 26 and 73 are on trial for rape in the southern French city of Avignon. Dominique Pelicot said that a total of 72 men were involved in the abuse of his then wife.

While some of the defendants admitted their guilt to investigators, others said they believed they were living out a couple’s fantasy and that Gisele Pelicot had actually consented to the sex.

“When they came, they already knew everything. They all knew how it worked before the meetings,” Pelicot said.

“I want to prove that my wife was a victim and not an accomplice, and that this happened completely without her knowledge.”

A court document states that investigators found 300 photos and a video of the crimes and filed them in folders, including one with the heading “Abuse.”

Gisele Pelicot told investigators that she was suffering from memory lapses and had visited a gynecologist because of unexplained pain.

The trial is expected to last until December. If convicted, the defendants face up to 20 years in prison.