Warning: This article contains discussion of rape which some readers may find distressing.
Gisèle Pelicot has spoken out against the heinous actions of her attackers, as she works to shift the stigma from victims of rape to the perpetrators.
At 72 years old, Gisèle, who suffered nearly ten years of severe sexual abuse after being drugged by her former husband, continues to stand strong with other abuse survivors. Recently, the only man to appeal his conviction for raping her had his sentence extended.
“For me, the harm has been done – I will need to rebuild from these ruins and I think I’m on the right road – but what I want to say to others is that I never regretted my decisions, from filing a legal complaint until today,” she expressed during a court session in Nîmes, in the south of France.
“I want to say to victims to never be ashamed of what was imposed on them, because they’re never responsible.”
Gisèle has become a symbol of bravery and resilience after she chose to reveal her identity in the trial against 51 men who raped her while she was incapacitated. Her ex-husband, Dominique Pelicot, was convicted of drugging her with sedatives mixed into her food and allowing strangers to assault her in their home in Mazan, a town in southeast France, between 2011 and 2020.
One of the 50 other men convicted, 44-year-old Husamettin Dogan, initially received a nine-year prison sentence, which was recently increased to ten years on October 10.
During his appeal, he argued that he was manipulated by Dominique and claimed he never raped her, instead describing the act as ‘making love’.
However, the appeal court reviewed disturbing footage of Dogan assaulting Gisèle while she was unconscious and snoring, with evidence showing she was at risk of suffocation due to her unresponsive state.
In court, Pelicot directly addressed Dogan, stating: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”
Dogan described the footage as ‘sex scenes,’ but Pelicot countered: “This is not a sex scene, it is rape. And without a condom.”
She revealed that watching the evidence during the investigation left “these scenes imprinted into my memory forever”.
For a long time, Pelicot thought she was experiencing memory loss due to an illness, unaware she was being drugged into what she described as ‘a state of general anaesthesia’.
She now faces numerous lifelong health issues, including several sexually transmitted diseases that require ongoing treatment.
The crimes were uncovered after her ex-husband was apprehended for filming under a woman’s skirt in a supermarket in 2020.
If you’ve been affected by any of the issues in this article, you can contact The National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800.656.HOPE (4673), available 24/7. Alternatively, you can chat online via online.rainn.org