AVIGNON, France (AP) — A 71-year-old Frenchman admitted in court Tuesday that he drugged his then-wife for nearly a decade and Dozens of men raped herand raped her himself. He begged her and her three children for forgiveness.

“Today I claim that I am a rapist, just like the other men here,” Dominique Pélicot said in court. “You knew everything. You cannot claim otherwise.”

Dominique Pélicot’s testimony is the most important moment so far in a trial that has shocked and shaken France and raised awareness of sexual violence. Many also hope that his testimony will shed light on the matter – and help to understand the unthinkable.

Although he had previously confessed to investigators, his testimony in court will be crucial for judges to decide the fate of about 50 other men who are on trial alongside him. Many deny raping Gisèle Pélicot, saying they were manipulated by her then-husband or believed she had consented.

Gisèle Pélicot has become a symbol of Fight against sexual violence in France because she agreed to give up her anonymity in the case, make the trial public and appear openly before the media. She is expected to speak in court on Tuesday after her ex-husband’s testimony.

Under French law, proceedings in the courtroom cannot be filmed or photographed. Dominique Pélicot is brought into the courtroom through a special entrance inaccessible to the media because he and several other defendants are being held in custody during the trial. Defendants who are not in custody arrive at the trial wearing surgical masks or hoods to prevent their faces from being filmed or photographed.

After days of uncertainty due to his health condition, Dominique Pélicot appeared in court on Tuesday and told the judges that he acknowledged all the charges against him.

His much-anticipated testimony was delayed for days after he became ill with a kidney stone and a urinary tract infection, his lawyers said.

Sitting in a wheelchair, Pélicot spoke in court for an hour about his childhood and the years of abuse suffered by his now ex-wife.

In a trembling voice, at times barely audible, he tried to express his remorse and explain the events which, according to him, had marked his childhood and planted the seeds of vice within him.

“You are not born a pervert, you become a pervert,” Pélicot told the judges after describing, at times in tears, how he was raped by a hospital nurse at the age of nine and how he was forced to take part in a gang rape at the age of 14.

Pélicot also spoke about the trauma he suffered when his parents welcomed a young girl into the family and he witnessed his father’s inappropriate behavior towards her.

“My father did the same thing to the little girl,” he said. “After my father died, my brother said men were coming to our house.”

At age 14, he said, he asked his mother if he could leave the house, but “she wouldn’t let me.”

“I don’t really want to talk about it, I’m just ashamed of my father. Ultimately, I didn’t make things better,” he said.

When asked about his feelings towards his wife, Pélicot said she did not deserve what he had done to her.

“All I remember from my youth are shocks and traumas, some of which I have forgotten thanks to her. She didn’t deserve this, I admit that,” he said tearfully.

At that moment, Gisèle Pélicot, who was standing across the room from him, with dozens of defendants sitting between them, put her sunglasses back on.

Dominique Pélicot later said: “I was crazy about her. She replaced everything. I ruined everything.”

A security guard caught Pélicot filming videos up women’s skirts in a supermarket in 2020, court documents show. Police searched Pélicot’s home and electronic devices and found thousands of photos and videos of men performing sexual acts on Gisèle Pélicot while she lay unconscious in her bed.

With the help of the recordings, the police were able to identify the majority of the 72 wanted suspects.

Gisèle Pélicot and her husband of 50 years had three children. When they retired, the couple left the Paris region and moved to a house in Mazan, a small town in Provence.

When police summoned her for questioning in late 2020, according to court documents, she first said her husband was “a great guy.” Then they showed her some photos. She left her husband and they are now divorced.

If convicted, he faces 20 years in prison. In addition to Pélicot, 50 other men between the ages of 26 and 74 are on trial.

Bernadette Tessonière, a 69-year-old retiree who lives a half-hour drive from Avignon, where the trial is taking place, arrived at the courthouse at 7:15 a.m. to secure a seat in the highly watched case.

“How is it possible that in 50 years of communal life you can live next to someone who hides his life so well? It’s scary,” she said while standing in line outside the courthouse. “I don’t have much hope that his actions can be explained, but he will at least reveal some details.”