The first day Gisèle Pelicot walked up the steps of the courthouse in Avignon in September 2024, she was an anonymous retired grandmother. Within weeks, this diminutive 72-year-old - the victim at the centre of the largest rape trial in French history, involving 51 men including her husband - had become a feminist icon. She was last seen in public when the verdicts - all guilty - were handed down in December. By then, crowds of supporters were chanting her name. On Monday Gisèle Pelicot returns to court, this time in Nîmes, for the appeal of the only one of the 51 defendants to challenge his sentence: Husamettin Dogan, 44, a married father of one.
Between September and December last year, Gisèle's bleak story travelled the world. For over a decade, she had been drugged unconscious by her husband Dominique and raped by dozens of men he had recruited on internet chat rooms. Dominique Pelicot filmed the assaults and neatly catalogued them on a hard disk, which allowed investigators to track down the majority of the individuals involved. Around 20 could not be identified and remain at large.
After a trial lasting 16 weeks, 46 men were found guilty of rape, two of attempted rape and two of sexual assault. Dominique Pelicot was handed the maximum jail sentence of 20 years. Husamettin Dogan's appeal next week will, in effect, be a retrial. The videos of Gisèle's rape will be shown in court again, and Pelicot will be present – this time, though, only as a witness. While she is not obliged to, Gisèle too will attend the proceedings. Everyone would have understood if she hadn't come because, well, she is trying to resume a normal life, one of her lawyers, Stéphane Babonneau, told the BBC. But she feels she needs to be there and has a responsibility to be there until the end of the proceedings.
In December, Dogan was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to nine years in prison. He is reportedly appealing both the guilty verdict and the length of his sentence. As was the case for many of the other 51 men, Dogan's defence hinged on the argument he could not be guilty of raping Gisèle because he had not realised she would be unconscious. Pelicot rejected this argument, saying he had made it abundantly clear to the men he recruited online that his wife would be drugged.
While last year she only addressed the court on a handful of occasions, whenever she did so Gisèle said she was speaking out to help other victims of rape: I want them to say: if Madame Pelicot did it, I can too. Although her public visibility has increased tremendously, personal struggles unfolded within her family, leading to a rift that has deeply affected her relationships. As she returns to court, Gisèle Pelicot continues to embody strength and determination, standing up for the rights of all victims and challenging societal attitudes towards sexual violence.
Between September and December last year, Gisèle's bleak story travelled the world. For over a decade, she had been drugged unconscious by her husband Dominique and raped by dozens of men he had recruited on internet chat rooms. Dominique Pelicot filmed the assaults and neatly catalogued them on a hard disk, which allowed investigators to track down the majority of the individuals involved. Around 20 could not be identified and remain at large.
After a trial lasting 16 weeks, 46 men were found guilty of rape, two of attempted rape and two of sexual assault. Dominique Pelicot was handed the maximum jail sentence of 20 years. Husamettin Dogan's appeal next week will, in effect, be a retrial. The videos of Gisèle's rape will be shown in court again, and Pelicot will be present – this time, though, only as a witness. While she is not obliged to, Gisèle too will attend the proceedings. Everyone would have understood if she hadn't come because, well, she is trying to resume a normal life, one of her lawyers, Stéphane Babonneau, told the BBC. But she feels she needs to be there and has a responsibility to be there until the end of the proceedings.
In December, Dogan was found guilty of aggravated rape and sentenced to nine years in prison. He is reportedly appealing both the guilty verdict and the length of his sentence. As was the case for many of the other 51 men, Dogan's defence hinged on the argument he could not be guilty of raping Gisèle because he had not realised she would be unconscious. Pelicot rejected this argument, saying he had made it abundantly clear to the men he recruited online that his wife would be drugged.
While last year she only addressed the court on a handful of occasions, whenever she did so Gisèle said she was speaking out to help other victims of rape: I want them to say: if Madame Pelicot did it, I can too. Although her public visibility has increased tremendously, personal struggles unfolded within her family, leading to a rift that has deeply affected her relationships. As she returns to court, Gisèle Pelicot continues to embody strength and determination, standing up for the rights of all victims and challenging societal attitudes towards sexual violence.
