It’s been less than a year since France’s largest-ever rape trial, which saw 51 men found guilty of raping or sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot, including her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, while she was drugged and unconscious. This week, Pelicot was back in the courtroom after one of the men appealed his conviction.
On Monday, Pelicot arrived at the French courthouse where she was greeted with applause. The Pelicot case became a watershed moment in France, sparking nationwide debate on consent, exposing legal gaps around sexual violence and driving calls for reform in how the justice system handles rape and chemical submission cases.
Of the other convicted men, several initially filed appeals. But by mid-2025, many dropped them, leaving only one man, 44 year-old construction worker Husamettin Dogan, still pushing his appeal. Dogan, was sentenced to nine years in prison for raping Gisele Pelicot after her then husband invited him online to abuse her.
Now, a verdict on the appeal has been reached with Dogan having his prison sentence increased fron nine to 10 years.
“The court and jury sentence Husamettin Dogan to 10 years in prison” along with “mandatory treatment for five years”, presiding judge Christian Pasta said when handing down the conviction.
During the hearing, Dogan claimed that he never meant to rape Gisèle Pelicot — alleging that her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, deceived him into taking part in the assaults. Dominique had drugged his wife, filmed her unconscious, and offered her to men online. “I never intended to rape that lady,” he told the appeal trial.
Dominique Pelicot, testified in court that Husamettin Dogan was fully aware she would be unconscious when he arrived to assault her, saying he had explicitly informed Dogan by phone that she was sedated and that the abuses should be filmed.
He asserted that all participants “knew, they all came with the same intention” and denied Dogan’s claim that the ordeal was a “game.”
“I said precisely on the phone there was to be no tobacco, no scent, he was to wash his hands, no violence, it would be filmed. All these things left him in no doubt of her state. He had to get undressed at the entrance to the kitchen on the patio because if there was a problem, I didn’t want him to stay,” he said.
Pelicot also told the court that Dogan drove an hour from another village after telling his own wife he was stepping out, arriving around midnight. When Dogan got lost, Dominique said he went out to guide him to the house.
Asked whether Dogan appeared disturbed by the sight of Gisèle lying unconscious on the bed, Dominique replied, “No — it suited him.”
He testified that a camera stood on a tripod in the room, leaving no doubt the assault would be filmed. Dogan, he said, stayed for about two hours and even asked for help positioning Gisèle’s body during the rape.
“He asked me to lift my wife’s leg and move her head a certain way because she couldn’t do it,” Dominique said, adding that Dogan “took pleasure in the situation.”
On returning to court, Pelicot’s lawyers spoke on her behalf: “She would have been happy to forgo this ordeal again.”
“But she is taking part to make clear that rape is rape, that there is no such thing as a small rape.”
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