Gisele Pelicot: French Survivor Returns to Court as Appeal Trial Begins in Drugged Rape Case

France's Feminist Icon Gisele Pelicot Returns To Court For Appeal Trial

Gisele Pelicot previously faced approximately fifty accused men during the initial trial in Avignon.

Paris:

Frenchwoman Gisele Pelicot, whose former husband recruited numerous strangers online to sexually assault and rape her while unconscious, will return to court next week for an appeal trial initiated by one man seeking to overturn his conviction.

Fifty-one men, including her ex-husband Dominique Pelicot, were found guilty at the initial trial that concluded in December 2024, after nearly four months of proceedings, which transformed Gisele Pelicot into an international symbol of courage.

Gisele Pelicot, 72, chose to reveal her identity publicly, and her dignified and quietly defiant behavior throughout the trial elevated her to the status of a feminist hero and a symbol in women's fight against male sexual violence.

Among the 51 convicted men, only Husamettin D. has filed and maintained his appeal. Consequently, the appeal trial will commence Monday in the southern French city of Nimes, with proceedings expected to last a maximum of four days.

"She would have preferred to avoid this ordeal again," explained Antoine Camus, one of Gisele Pelicot's attorneys, to AFP.

"But she is participating to emphasize that rape is rape, and there is no such thing as a minor rape," he added.

Gisele Pelicot was heavily sedated by her husband over a decade to be raped and sexually abused by strangers while unconscious, primarily at their family residence in the rustic southern French town of Mazan.

Unlike the initial Avignon trial, where Gisele Pelicot confronted approximately fifty accused men daily in court, this time she will face only Husamettin D., who is currently not in custody.

Her son Florian, one of her three children, will accompany her for support, according to Camus.

In December, Husamettin D. received a nine-year prison sentence. His incarceration was postponed due to health concerns.

"I'm not a rapist," the 44-year-old construction worker declared during the first trial.

"This is too overwhelming for me. He's her husband. I never imagined that man could do this to his wife."

Initially, 16 other men also appealed their verdicts, but they all subsequently withdrew their appeals.

However, Husamettin D. "intends to maintain his appeal completely, both regarding his criminal responsibility and the sentence," his lawyer Sylvie Menvielle stated in June.

Dominique Pelicot has not appealed his 20-year prison sentence and will appear solely as a witness for the new trial.

Nevertheless, he will be brought from prison, where he remains in solitary confinement, to be cross-examined on the second day of the appeal proceedings.

"Dominique Pelicot has no intention of changing his perspective or position," his attorney, Beatrice Zavarro, informed AFP.

She emphasized that her client's first statement at the Avignon trial was: "I am a rapist and all the men in this room are rapists."

During the first trial, many defendants attempted to shift blame onto Dominique Pelicot, claiming they believed they were participating in a consensual arrangement with a libertine couple—an argument the court rejected.

Most of his 50 co-defendants, aged between 27 and 74, were convicted of rape. Their sentences ranged from three years with two suspended—the lightest sentence given to a pensioner convicted of sexual assault—to 15 years imprisonment for a man who had raped Gisele Pelicot six times.

Husamettin D. claimed that in December 2019, he encountered a man online who presented himself as part of a "libertine couple" whose wife "pretended to be asleep."

That same evening, after abusing Gisele Pelicot's unconscious body for at least thirty minutes, he allegedly only realized something was wrong when he heard her snoring.

He claimed to have departed hastily but did not consider it necessary to alert authorities.