Gisele Pelicot has addressed her ex-husband in court as she took the stand in the extraordinary trial of dozens of men accused of raping her while she was knocked unconscious.

Since it began on September 2, Pelicot has been praised for her composure and decision to keep the hearing public as she bravely faced 51 of her alleged rapists.

Her former husband, Dominique Pelicot, admitted that for nearly a decade he repeatedly drugged his unwitting wife and invited men to rape her while she lay unconscious in their bed.

On Thursday (AEDT), she responded after weeks of evidence and testimony and told the court in Avignon she wanted all women who had been raped to say “Madame Pelicot did it, I can too”.

“I don’t want them to be ashamed any longer,” the 71-year-old said.

Speaking directly at her former husband, whom she divorced after he was arrested, her voice broke as she recalled their seemingly loving marriage.

“We lived together for 50 years, I was a happy, fulfilled woman,” she said of their life in Mazan, a small town in the south of France.

“You were a caring, attentive husband, and I never doubted you. We shared laughter and tears.

“I am trying to understand how this man, who to me was perfect, could have done this.

“How can he have betrayed me at this point? How could you let these strangers into my bedroom?” she said.

“I want to say to him: I’ve always tried to lift you higher, towards the light.

“You chose the darkest depths of human nature. You’re the one who made this choice.”

‘Signs were there’

Pelicot said she had considered herself lucky to have a man who would often cook her meals and give her ice-cream, which the court had earlier heard was used to drug her.

“I used to say to him: How lucky am I, you’re a darling, you really look after me.”

She would wake up the next morning after an alleged rape feeling tired, but did not suspect anything.

“I had gynaecological issues, and some mornings I woke up with the same feeling as if my waters had broken,” she said.

“The signs were there, but I never knew how to decode them.

Pelicot said she was “completely destroyed”.

“I don’t know if my whole life will be enough to understand.”

Dominique Pelicot had told the court he also raped Gisele and that the 50 other men standing trial understood exactly what they were doing.

The trial is expected to run until December.

The defendants range in age from 26 to 74. Many of them deny having raped Gisele Pelicot, saying her then-husband manipulated them or that they believed she was consenting.

The trial has horrified France and inspired people to stage demonstrations outside Paris’ criminal court, in the city of Lyon and elsewhere.

Demonstrators denounced what they said was laxity from the French justice system toward sexual violence and fears of being raped and assaulted that they said stalked women day-in, day-out.

Placards they held up read: “Shame must change sides”, “Stop the denial”, “Not your punching ball” and “We are all Gisele. Are you all Dominique???”

“You can never know who is a rapist or who is a monster. Like, it could be your neighbour, it could be anyone,” said Paris demonstrator Khalil Ndiaye, a student.

“It’s really disgusting somehow to think that it could be people that you know, people that you hang out with every day and, like, they could do things like that.”

-with AAP