Gisele Pelicot attends court for appeal by one of 51 men convicted over her mass rape

Nimes, France (Reuters) -Gisele Pelicot returned to court on Monday to face a single man from 51, who appealed the guilty decision at the mass rape hearing that shocked France last year and attracted attention worldwide.

72 -year -old Pelicot became a feminist hero both at home and abroad, as he waived the right to anonymity and adapted to the abusers in the court, and turned the hearing into an investigation of the prevalence of sexual violence.

The case led to a deep spirit of soul in France, led to a debate on whether the medical community would go to a rape law and to deepen the conception of the medical community with drugs.

Pelicot did not make any explanation when he came to court. A few dozen people waited outside the court with banners showing their support.

Dominique Pelicot, who acknowledged that he had numbed his wife Gisele and hired it online to rape him when dozens of men were unconscious more than ten years ago, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. All of the 50 common defendants attempted to rape, rape, or found guilty of sexual assault.

Among them, Husamettin Dogan, a former construction worker in his forties, was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of aggravated rape. A Court of Appeal in the Southern City will hear its objection until Wednesday.

His lawyer, Sylvie Menvielle, said that his client believed that he had joined a Libertine trio he did not know when he did not consent to Gisele Pelicot, so he could not accept the guilty decision.

“He was confronted with someone acting with extraordinary manipulation and deviance,” Menvielle referred to Reuters to Dominique Pelicot. He said.

In French criminal law, intent is very important in the evaluation of the crime.

(Reporting by Antony Paone, writing by Juliette Jabkhiro, editing by Richard Lough and Alexandra Hudson)