French President Emmanuel Macron has paid tribute to Gisèle Pelicot for the strength she showed in the mass rape trial of her husband and 50 other men.

Describing her as a trailblazer for women, he said her “dignity and courage moved and inspired France and the world”.

Her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, 72, was given a maximum 20 years in jail for aggravated rape, after confessing to drugging her for almost a decade and recruiting dozens of men to rape her while she lay comatose in bed.

After 50 other men were given lesser sentences, Gisèle Pelicot said the trial was a difficult ordeal, but she believed in a future where women and men could “live in harmony with respect and mutual understanding”.

It was her decision to waive her anonymity and throw the trial open to the public that drew global attention to the issues of rape and drug-induced sexual assault.

Judges in Avignon in southern France found all 51 defendants aged 27 to 74 guilty, but a lawyer for Gisèle Pelicot said on Friday that “no sentence will give her back her ruined life”.

Her three children were said to have been disappointed that many of the sentences had been shorter than the terms requested by prosecutors. They ranged from three to 15 years, rather than the maximum of 18 sought by prosecutors.

Forty-one of the men have been sent to jail immediately, reports say. Many of those convicted are likely to appeal against their sentences.

Dominique Pelicot’s lawyer said he had been “somewhat stunned” by his 20-year jail term and would decide whether to appeal in the coming days. Judges say he will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence before being eligible for parole.

Campaigners against sexual violence have stood outside the court throughout the trial and hope it could bring about reform of France’s rape laws and change the debate on rape culture and drug-induced sexual assault.

“Shame changes sides” has become one of the slogans of the case and, in an indication of the importance of the trial, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz thanked Gisèle Pelicot for giving women around the world “a strong voice”.

“The shame always lies with the perpetrator,” Scholz added.

One of her lawyers, Antoine Camus, told France Info radio on Friday that the trial would serve as a “building block” and that by making the proceedings public Gisèle Pelicot had sought to enable society to “get to grips with [the issues] and ask the right questions”.

The president of France’s National Assembly, Yaël Braun Pivet, said a taboo had been broken: “The world is no longer the same thanks to you.”

French ex-prime minister Gabriel Attal hoped that the mass rape trial would send a “shock wave” through the education of every young boy – “because this is where the fight for equality and respect begins”.