Gisele Pelicot has been given France’s highest award as part of Bastille Day celebrations that included a traditional military parade and fly-past.
Ms Pelicot – a global symbol in the struggle against sexual violence – was named a knight of the Legion of Honour; she waived her right to anonymity during the trial of her husband, who had drugged and raped her and invited dozens of strangers to also abuse her over the course of years.
Following the three-month trial, her husband and the 50 other abusers were sentenced to a total of 428 years in prison.
Nearly 600 other people were also given the civic award, including Holocaust survivor and French Resistance fighter Yvette Levy, and musician Pharrell Williams, who has designed a collection for Louis Vuitton.
Celebrations took place across France on Monday culminating in fireworks in nearly every town.
The heart of the festivities was in Paris, where 7,000 participants marched on horseback or armoured vehicles in a military parade along the cobblestones of the Champs-Elysees watched by president Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte.
The annual event commemorates the storming of the Bastille fortress and prison on 14 July 1789, a pivotal moment that ignited the French Revolution and led to the overthrow of the monarchy.
This year’s event returned to Champs-Elysees after being moved to Avenue Foch by last year’s Olympic Games.
The French Army, Navy and air force paraded in front of French officials and visiting political leaders including Indonesia’s president Prabowo Subianto who is representing the world’s biggest Muslim country. Indonesia contributed 451 soldiers to the parade, including a drum band of 189 musicians.
Finnish troops serving in the UN force in Lebanon, as well as Belgian and Luxembourg troops serving in a Nato force in Romania, also took part.
For the first time, a prison dog was part of the parade, alongside his handler; the Belgian Malinois shepherd, Gun, is specialised in weapons and ammunition detection.
And among those invited to watch was Fousseynou Samba Cisse, who became a national hero when he rescued six people, including two babies, from a burning sixth-floor apartment earlier this month.
Beyond the military spectacle in Paris are growing concerns about an uncertain world.
🐾 Une première cette année : un binôme cynotechnique de l’administration pénitentiaire participe au défilé du 14 juillet 🇫🇷
— Ministère de la Justice (@justice_gouv) July 14, 2025
Le berger malinois Gun, spécialisé dans la détection d’armes et de munitions, fait partie de la parade aux côtés de son maître.
🎥 Découvrez les missions… pic.twitter.com/fYRQhVBgMr
On the eve of Bastille Day, Mr Macron announced €6.5bn ($7.6bn) in extra French military spending in the next two years because of new threats ranging from Russia to terrorism and online attacks. The French leader called for intensified efforts to protect Europe and support for Ukraine.
“Since 1945, our freedom has never been so threatened, and never so seriously,″ Mr Macron said.
“We are experiencing a return to the fact of a nuclear threat, and a proliferation of major conflicts.″
Many parts of France celebrated on Sunday evening, including in Paris were 176 arrests were made across the whole city area according to Laurent Nuñez, prefect of police for Paris.
Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report
