French court adds a year to sentence after appeal by Pelicot rapist fails

A man has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband - and has had his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

- Angelique Chrisafis

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested last year’s conviction, faced a retrial this week at Nimes court of appeal.

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found him guilty yesterday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

Giséle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus, had told the court: “We hope the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights - that consent is personal, not delegated.”

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in jail last year for drugging his then wife and inviting dozens of men to rape her over almost a decade.