Since the very beginning, the trial in the southern city of Avignon has riveted, and stunned, France. Dozens of men stand accused of raping a drugged woman. The man accused of masterminding the alleged abuse was her own husband, Dominique Pelicot. He is accused of drugging her, raping her and inviting the other men to join him.

Prosecutors say that, for almost a decade, Mr. Pelicot drugged his wife, Gisèle, 71, to rape her and filmed the abuse. Mr. Pelicot has pleaded guilty to all of the charges against him, including aggravated rape and drugging.

On Sept. 17, Mr. Pelicot testified for the first time during the trial.

“She didn’t deserve this, I recognize that,” he said in tears from the stand. He later addressed his wife, who looked directly at him. “I regret what I did and ask for forgiveness, even if it unforgivable.”

Ms. Pelicot has said that she has no memory of the abuse but that, over the years, she began to experience frightening, unexplained symptoms.

She said she lost hair and weight, at times spoke incoherently and suffered memory blackouts. She feared she was developing Alzheimer’s or a brain tumor.

In 2020, the police investigated Mr. Pelicot after three women said he had tried to film up their skirts in a supermarket. The police then seized electronic devices from his house and found thousands of videos or pictures of rapes and other sexual abuse. Using the photographs and videos, the police spent the next two years identifying and charging other suspects.