Hello and welcome to NewsHour. It's coming to you live from the BBC World Service Studios in London.

I'm Tim Franks. We're beginning with a story which beggars belief, and yet, in truth, could not be more prosaic.

And that is part of its utterly shocking nature nature that such apparently ordinary men were capable of

committing such an appalling crime in such an apparently blithe manner.

I'm talking of the conviction in France of the 51 men who over a period of almost a decade

raped Giselle Pellicoe. She'd been drugged, sedated so she lost consciousness

by her husband Dominique, who then recruited dozens of men to rape her while he videoed the abuse.

Dominique Pellicoe has been sentenced to 20 years in prison. Gisela herself waved her right anonymity

from the start. She wanted, as she put it, to make

shame swap sides from the victim to the rapist. After the verdict, she gave this short statement

outside court.

It's with a profound emotion that I'm explained today,

to you've been a process. It is with deep emotion that I speak to you today.

This trial has been a very difficult ordeal, and at this moment I'm thinking, first of all,

of my three children, David, Caroline and Florian.

And I'm also thinking of my grandchildren, because they are the future, and it's also for them that I fought this battle, as well as my daughters-in-law, Oroar and Céline.

I also think of all the other families affected by this tragedy.

Finally, I think of the unrecognized victims whose stories often remain in the shadows. I want you to know that we share the same fight.

When I opened the doors to this trial on the 2nd of September,

I wanted society to be able to debate the issues it raised.

I have never regretted this decision.

That society can see

...