Gisèle Pelicot to attend court as man found guilty of raping her appeals against verdict

Gisèle Pelicot, who survived almost a decade of rape involving dozens of men after she was drugged by her ex-husband, will attend court in France again today, as one of the men convicted of raping her faces a second trial after appealing against his verdict.

- Angelique Chrisafis

Pelicot waived her right to anonymity in the 2024 trial of her former husband and 50 other men last year.

Her lawyer, Antoine Camus, said she would have preferred not to attend another trial, but would be present at the four-day trial at Nîmes court of appeal in southern France. “She will be there to explain that a rape is a rape, that there is no such thing as a small rape,” Camus told Agence France-Presse.

Husamettin Dogan, 44, a builder who was sentenced to nine years in prison for raping Pelicot, has appealed against his conviction.

The trial last year heard he had made contact with Dominique Pelicot in a chatroom and drove to the couple’s home the same night in June 2019, telling his wife he was going out. He was convicted of raping Gisèle Pelicot while she was unconscious.