A French court found all 51 defendants guilty on Thursday in a drugging-and-rape case that horrified the world and transformed the victim, Gisele Pelicot, into a stirring symbol of courage and resilience.

Pelicot's ex-husband of 50 years, Dominique Pelicot, had pleaded guilty to drugging her repeatedly for almost a decade to rape her and to offer up her unconscious body for sex to dozens of strangers he had met online, while videoing the abuse.

A panel of five judges sentenced him to the maximum 20 years in jail, as requested by prosecutors.

The court imposed generally shorter terms than the four-to-18 years demanded by the prosecution for the other defendants, almost all of whom were accused of raping the comatose Gisele Pelicot.

In all, the court found 47 of the defendants guilty of rape, two guilty of attempted rape and two guilty of sexual assault.

A cheer went up outside the court in the southern French city of Avignon among the victim's supporters when news of the first guilty verdicts filtered out.

Many of the accused had denied the charges, saying they thought it was a consensual sex game orchestrated by the couple and arguing that it was not rape if the husband approved.

Dominique Pelicot, 72, denied misleading the men, saying they knew exactly what they were doing. "I am a rapist like the others in this room," he said during testimony.

Gisele, who is also 72, waived her right to anonymity during the trial and demanded that horrifying videos of the serial abuse, which were recorded by her former husband, should be seen in court, saying she hoped this would help other women speak up.

The trial has triggered protest rallies around France in support of Gisele, and spurred soul searching, including a debate on whether to update France's rape law, which at present makes no mention that sex should involve consent.

Gisele stared down her abusers with steely determination in the packed courtroom day after day, scoffing at any claim that she might have been a willing participant.

"I've decided not to be ashamed, I've done nothing wrong," she testified in October. "They are the ones who must be ashamed," she said.