A mammoth rape trial in France is moving into a new phase with prosecutors setting out the verdicts and punishments they want for 51 men men accused of raping Gisèle Pelicot while she was drugged and rendered unconscious by her husband.

French prosecutors sought a 20-year sentence for Dominique Pelicot, accused of drugging and facilitating the rape of his wife by dozens of men. The trial, involving 50 defendants, concluded arguments amidst national protests against gender-based violence.

Gisele Pelicot has described the case against her husband as a “trial of cowardliness” which she said had laid bare a “macho society” in which rape was “trivialised”.