Gisèle Pelicot given France’s highest award

Gisèle Pelicot, the French woman who earned international recognition after publicly testifying at her mass-rape trial last year, has been given France’s top honour.

The 72-year-old was named knight of the Legion of Honour on a list announced ahead of France’s Bastille Day.

Pelicot waived her right to anonymity during the high-profile trial against her husband who had drugged and raped her, in addition to inviting dozens of strangers to also abuse her over nearly a decade.

Pelicot was among 589 other people given France’s highest award on Sunday.

She attended almost every day of the trial, which ended last December with Dominique Pelicot, 72, being given a maximum 20 years in jail for aggravated rape, after confessing to drugging her and recruiting around 50 men to rape her while she lay comatose in bed.

“I want all women who have been raped to say: Madame Pelicot did it, I can too,” Pelicot previously told reporters, adding that she wanted to make “shame swap sides” from the victim to the rapist.

French President Emmanuel Macron has publicly paid tribute to Pelicot as a trailblazer, adding that her “dignity and courage moved and inspired France and the world”.

According to her lawyer, a memoir detailing Gisèle Pelicot’s story in her own words will be published early next year.