Fernando P, a 61-year-old employed as a school janitor, has been found guilty of abusing his wife within their residence, recording the incidents, and subsequently distributing the footage online without her consent.

On Friday, a court in Aachen, located in western Germany, sentenced him to eight years and six months in prison.

The court has indicated that there is the possibility of an appeal being lodged against this ruling within a week.

The court elaborated that Fernando P breached “the most intimate aspects of private life and personal rights through visual recordings in 34 instances, including four cases involving aggravated rape and dangerous bodily harm.”

He was also found guilty of charges related to aggravated sexual coercion and sexual assault.

In a statement, the court detailed that “the defendant repeatedly drugged and sexually abused his wife in their marital home without her knowledge.”

“He also filmed the acts and made the recordings available to other users in group chats and on internet platforms.”

Accused of crimes spanning nearly 15 years, the court found him guilty of offences between 2018 and 2024.

He was acquitted on some other charges, details of which have not been released by the court.

The verdict comes exactly a year after Frenchman Pelicot – who solicited dozens of strangers from a chatroom for a near 10-year period to rape and abuse his then-wife Gisèle – was found guilty of aggravated rape.

Forty-nine other men were all found guilty of rape or sexual assault in that case.

The Pelicot case shocked the world and sparked a cultural reckoning on gender-based violence and misogyny in France.

‘A very significant case’

The Aachen case is the first of its kind to be heard by the German courts, according to the campaign group Nur Ja Heisst Ja, whose name – translated to “Only Yes Means Yes” – highlights its mission to change how rape is legally defined.

Last year, Hamburg-based investigative journalists unearthed evidence of a man who, for 14 years, had shared videos on an adult website allegedly showing the drugging and raping of his wife.

But that man was never charged; he passed away in 2024.

The Aachen case is ” very significant,” said Jill S, an activist from Nur Ja Heisst Ja who asked CNN not to use her last name to avoid online abuse, because, “It’s a case that kind of shows where there are gaps in our legal system,” she told CNN before Friday’s verdict.

In Germany, consent has traditionally been defined through the “no means no’” principle, which campaigners say deprives victims of sexual abuse the ability to give explicit consent for sexual acts.

While the law does require explicit consent in exceptional circumstances – specifically when victims cannot express their will, such as when they’re unconscious or drugged – Nur Ja Heisst Ja say it still falls short of protecting women.

They are campaigning for the German government to change the definition of rape to include a “yes means yes” standard, arguing that the current law still places the burden on victims to verbally resist rape and other sexual violence.

Like “any kind of topic around sexual violence, it’s not taken very serious by the government,” Jill S said.

The Aachen case also highlights another key problem, according to the campaigners:

The possession of rape content is currently legal in Germany.

Nur Ja Heisst Ja is hopeful that this might soon change, as Kathrin Wahlmann, a justice minister in the state of Lower Saxony, has launched a statewide campaign to have that possession criminalised.

‘Online university of violence’

Across the border in France, lawmaker Sandrine Josso also believes that laws need to be adapted to protect women from this kind of abuse.

For Josso, the issue is personal.

In November 2023, Josso alleges she was drugged by then 66-year-old French senator Joël Guerriau at a party.

She filed a criminal complaint, with a trial beginning in January.

Guerriau has denied all allegations.

“I think that today’s laws are not sufficiently grounded in reality,” Josso told CNN, saying that she believes that current laws do not factor into account how the online world fuels unique eco-systems of abuse.

“Social media has enabled it (sexual abuse) because communities form and share tips – essentially refining and professionalising their methods. That’s what makes it so alarming,” she said.

Both Pelicot and Fernando P shared their abusive content online.

Josso said that websites and chatrooms hosting rape content are like an “online university of violence” where men can teach each other how to drug their partners and revel in sharing footage of their alleged crimes.

For Jill S in Germany, online platforms and governments have a lot to answer for when it comes to addressing the spread and propagation of this content.

“I think the sad thing is that all of these men felt really, really safe sharing this content, putting it online, leaving thousands of videos on their laptops at home.”

She hopes Friday’s verdict may help to finally shatter this illusion of safety and lead to the conviction of more abusers.