Pelicot in August obtained a divorce from her husband, who has confessed to the abuse after meticulously documenting it with photos and videos.
She has moved away from the southern town of Mazan where, in her own words, her husband Dominique Pelicot treated her like “a piece of meat” or a “rag doll” for years.
She now uses her maiden name, but during the trial has asked the media to use her former name as a married woman — the one passed on to some of her seven grandchildren.
In mid-September, she dropped her usual reserve to talk of her humiliation and her anger towards several lawyers who had made insinuations about her ordeal.
“Rape is rape,” she said.
In October, she said she was “broken” but determined to change society.
She again told the court last month it was time for a “macho, patriarchal” society to shift its attitude towards rape.
She said the marathon hearings were an examination of the “cowardice” of the men who took part in the assaults.
Many had argued they thought they were taking part in a couple’s fantasy after consent by proxy through her husband.
