Prosecutors demand 20-year jail sentence for Dominique Pelicot

“He sought pleasure through a desire to submit, humiliate and debase his wife – the person he claimed to cherish the most in the world,” Ms Chabaud told the court, saying that Mr Pelicot, 72, should be re-examined at the end of his sentence before being released.

Another prosecutor, Jean-François Mayet, said the trial had shaken up society and that what is at stake “was not a conviction or an acquittal” but “to fundamentally change the relations between men and women”.

Mr Mayet paid tribute to the “courage and dignity” of Gisèle Pelicot, who was in court as she has been most days since the trial began in September.

Her decision to waive anonymity and have an open trial has led to a huge amount of interest in the case, which has in turn sparked a nationwide conversation on rape culture, consent and chemical submission – drugging someone for the purposes of coercion or assault.

On Monday morning posters reading “20 years for everyone” had appeared on the walls around the Avignon courthouse where the trial is taking place.

However, it is unlikely the 50 defendants in this extraordinary case will be handed sentences this long.

The longest jail term requested by prosecutors today – excluding the 20-year demand made for Mr Pelicot – was for Jean-Pierre Marechal, a co-defendant who is not accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot, but who has admitted to drugging and raping his own ex-wife on Mr Pelicot’s advice and instruction.

He is facing 17 years in prison.