What to Know as Gisèle Pelicot Returns to Court for Man’s Appeal

Gisèle Pelicot returns to court on Monday to face the appeal of one of dozens of men convicted raping her while she was in a drugged state, encounters that her husband recorded.

The initial trial of 51 men horrified France and raised disturbing questions about the pervasiveness of rape, the use of pharmaceuticals to abuse women and the uncomfortably familiar faces of rapists who were also fathers and neighbors.

Ms. Pelicot drew widespread admiration for opening the initial trial to the public, determined that the shame of rape not fall on survivors.

As a victim, she is not obliged to attend the appeal trial but feels “it’s totally impossible” to stay away, said one of her lawyers, Antoine Camus.

The appeal trial is scheduled to last three and a half days in the southern city of Nîmes and is expected to grip the country again.

Here’s what to know about the case.

What happened in the first trial?

Ms. Pelicot’s former husband, Dominique Pelicot, admitted to regularly drugging her for almost a decade to rape her. He then offered her up to dozens of men he met on a website, since shut down, and videotaped them while they raped her.

Mostly using 20,000 photographs and videos of the encounters he had taken and edited, the police tracked down 50 other men and charged most of them with raping Ms. Pelicot.

A majority argued that Mr. Pelicot had tricked them into believing they were going to the house for a consensual threesome. Mr. Pelicot maintained that they all knew she had been drugged.

All 51 were found guilty, including Mr. Pelicot, who was sentenced to 20 years. The rest were sentenced to three to 15 years. Six walked free because they had already served most or all of their time in pretrial detention.

Who is appealing?

In the 10 days after the first trial, 17 of the men found guilty appealed. All have withdrawn their appeals but one: Husamettin Dogan.

Mr. Dogan, 44, lives with his wife and son in a small town an hour’s drive from where the Pelicots lived. He has never had a job for more than two years, according to the overview of the case by the investigative judge. He has a criminal record for drug trafficking.

During the original trial, Mr. Dogan, like many of the others, said he believed that Ms. Pelicot had consented and he did not accept being called a rapist.

One of Mr. Dogan’s lawyers, Jean-Marc Darrigade, said he would contest both his conviction for aggravated rape and his nine-year sentence. He said the defense’s case would revolve around the moment Mr. Dogan realized Ms. Pelicot was not in a normal state and what actions he took.

“The question is to know why he left the premises, under what conditions, why it stopped,” Mr. Darrigade said.

What has Ms. Pelicot done since?

Ms. Pelicot has become an international feminist icon, making Time magazine’s list of 100 most influential people of 2025 and receiving hundreds of letters from around the world. Last summer, the French government announced it would award her the Legion of Honor, France’s top prize.

Throughout it all, Ms. Pelicot, now 72, has maintained a very low profile, giving no interviews and attending no public events. She took legal action against a magazine after it published photos of her and a new companion, and the magazine settled for 40,000 euros (about $47,000), said one of Ms. Pelicot’s lawyers, Stéphane Babonneau. The money was donated to charities working with victims, Mr. Babonneau said.

She is writing a memoir, to be released early next year.

How has the case changed France?

The trial shocked France, prompting debates about the legal definition of rape, the notion of consent and drugging people to victimize them — called “chemical submission” in France.

Three months after the trial, the government finally approved a curriculum for sex education classes, delivered to schools last month. Though organizations were suing the government for not implementing such a program, many said the trial made it happen.

Similarly, the trial pushed lawmakers to introduce the concept of consent into the French penal code’s definition of rape. The change is waiting for final reviews this month.

Will this be the last trial?

An appeals verdict can be challenged before France’s highest court. But that court does not re-examine the facts — it judges only whether the law was correctly applied. So this is likely to be the last trial involving Ms. Pelicot.

However, Mr. Pelicot is being investigated in other cases, including a rape and murder in 1991 and an attempted rape in 1999. He has admitted to the attempted rape but denies involvement in the 1991 murder.

The couple’s daughter, Caroline Darian, filed a police complaint against her father for rape and sexual assault in March. An investigation is underway.

Ségolène Le Stradic contributed research from Paris.