The highly detailed document explaining the reasoning behind the criminal court's ruling in the Pelicot rape case, handed down in the southern city of Avignon, on Thursday, December 19, offers a deep dive into the judges' three days of deliberation. As such, it is essential reading. More than ever, it legitimizes criminal courts' obligation, under French law, to provide the reasons for their decisions. This obligation is a recent one: It was imposed by a law passed on August 10, 2011, following a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that failure to give reasons undermined the requirements of a fair trial.

A long introductory section, entitled "The common basis of the case and the particular case of Dominique Pelicot," explains how the judges arrived at their decision to convict all of the defendants. It also shows how they became convinced of the central role played by Dominique Pelicot, justifying a five-year difference between the maximum sentence given to him – 20 years' imprisonment, and he will not be eligible for parole until he has served two-thirds of his sentence – and the other sentences, which were much lighter than the prosecution's requests, handed down to his co-defendants.

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