AVIGNON, France – Gisèle Pélicot on Tuesday blasted the cowardice of dozens of men accused of assaulting her during 10 years of mass rapes organized by her husband and told the court hearing the trial that France’s patriarchal society must change.

Dominique Pelicot, her husband, admitted in court to having drugged his wife, 71, and inviting strangers to their home to rape her while she was unconscious. Most of the other 50 men on trial denied rape.

She only learned of her ordeal when police came across videos and photos recorded by her husband of the abuse he is accused of orchestrating.

“For me, this is the trial of cowardice, there is no other way to describe it,” declared Gisèle Pélicot, in front of many defendants present in the courtroom.

This is the third time she has addressed the court in Avignon, southern France, as the trial heads towards the delivery of verdicts and sentences around December 20.

Testimony that dozens of seemingly ordinary men, aged 26 to 74 and from all walks of life, may have raped an unconscious woman has captured worldwide attention and transformed the trial into an examination of the pervasiveness of sexual violence.

Videos recorded by her husband and played in court in recent weeks repeatedly show Gisèle Pélicott motionless, sometimes snoring, while some of the defendants mistreated her.

Many defendants told the court they did not realize they were raping her, did not intend to rape her and did not intend to place all the blame on her husband, who they claimed had manipulated them.

“It is time for society to look at this macho and patriarchal society and change the way it views rape,” Gisèle Pélicot declared in court.

Under French law, she could have requested that the trial take place behind closed doors. Instead, she asked for the event to be held in public, saying she hoped it would help other women speak out and show that victims have nothing to be ashamed of.

“Rape is rape,” she said Tuesday. “When you walk into a room and see a still body, at what point (do you decide) not to react,” she said in an address to the defendant. “Why didn’t you leave immediately and report it to the police?”

She said she would never forgive her husband.

On Monday, the Pelicots’ two sons asked the court to punish him severely and also said they would never forgive him and that he was dead for them. Their sister said she believed Dominique Pelicot also drugged and abused her.

Dominique Pelicot is due to appear in court later Tuesday. His lawyer, Beatrice Navarro, said she was “very depressed.”

“He did what he did. There’s no doubt about that. But it should still be noted that right now he’s very alone. He will always be very alone,” she said. REUTERS