Courageous Gisele back in court to face one of her rapists

LESS than a year after the landmark verdict in a horrific drugging and rape trial that shocked France and turned Gisele Pelicot into a global figure, she was cheered as she arrived at a court for the appeal of a man challenging his conviction.

- BY KEITH PERRY

Husamettin Dogan, sentenced to nine years in prison last December, denies he intended to rape Ms Pelicot.

He argues that he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot, Ms Pelicot’s ex-husband, who drugged his wife and offered her to strangers online before filming the assaults.

Dogan, a 44-year-old construction worker, went on trial in Nimes yesterday on charges of aggravated rape by administering substances that impair judgment or self-control, an offence carrying up to 20 years in prison.

He remains free pending the verdict. Prosecutors had sought 12 years at his first trial, but the court imposed nine.