PARIS — Around late September, staff manning the phones at 39 19, France's main anonymous hotline for women who are victims of violence, began noticing a new type of case.

"The caller thinks she's been drugged and potentially raped. She had suspicions a few months ago and all the information around the Mazan trial has helped her put the pieces together," a staff member detailed in a write-up of one of several calls seen by Reuters.

The trial, in which Dominique Pelicot has admitted to drugging his wife Gisele and recruiting dozens of men online to rape her while she was unconscious over nearly a decade, is reaching its end. Dozens of verdicts are expected on Thursday (Dec 19).

The mass rape trial has shocked France and its implications will be felt far beyond the Avignon courthouse where judges have heard and seen more than three months of evidence. Gisele Pelicot, 72, has become a feminist hero both at home and abroad for waiving her right to anonymity and standing up to her abusers in court.

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