Seventeen men convicted in the Pelicot mass rape trial have appealed the verdict, according to the prosecutor’s office in the French city of Avignon.

Seventeen of the trial's 51 defendants have appealed their convictions received at the criminal court in Avignon, southern France, risking a longer sentence. A second trial is scheduled for late 2025,

The Frenchman was jailed for 20 years for drugging and raping his then-wife and soliciting dozens of men to do the same.