I'm Aisha Roscoe, and you're listening to The Sunday Story from Up First, where we go beyond the news of the day to bring you one big story.

Before we start, a warning. Today's episode discusses sexual assault.

In September of 2024, Giselle Pelico took the stand in an unprecedented mass rape trial in France.

On trial was her former husband, along with 50 other men.

In 2020, police found images and videos of her husband and dozens of men

raping her while she was drugged and unconscious. Pelico had the right to remain anonymous

and keep the trial behind closed doors. But she chose to open the trial.

In the beginning, I did want it to be a closed trial

because I was ashamed.

But I walk a lot.

So as I was walking, it sort of started coming to me a little by little.

I said to myself that the shame needed to change sides.

And by having the closed trial, I was giving them a gift.

The trial was widely broadcast and drew international attention

while provoking a national reckoning in France.

All of the defendants were found guilty, and Pelico's former husband received a maximum

20-year sentence.

Now, Giselle Pelico has written a book about her experience.

It's called A Hym to Life.

She recently spoke with my colleague, Michelle Martin,

through an interpreter in Paris.

They talked about the pain of discovering

...