VANNES, Mar 1 — When police told Louis-Marie, 35, they believed he had been sexually abused two decades earlier by a surgeon who treated him for appendicitis, he thought it was a prank.

PARIS, Dec 30 — Dominique Pelicot, sentenced to 20 years in jail by a French court for repeatedly drugging and raping his then-wife Gisele for almost a decade and inviting dozens of strangers to rape her, will not appeal, his lawyer said today, although a new trial will take place as 17 co-defendants have appealed.

AVIGNON, Dec 19 — A French court found Dominique Pelicot guilty today of repeatedly drugging and raping his wife for almost a decade, and inviting dozens of strangers to rape her unconscious body in a case that has horrified the world.

PARIS, Dec 18 — Around late September, staff manning the phones at 3919, France’s main anonymous hotline for women who are victims of violence, began noticing a new type of case.