Frenchwoman Gisele Pelicot, whose ex-husband recruited dozens of strangers online to sexually assault and rape her while drugged, returns to court on Monday for an appeal trial triggered by the bid of one man to overturn his conviction.

Fifty-one men, including her former husband Dominique Pelicot, were convicted at the nearly four-month initial trial that ended in December and turned Gisele Pelicot into a global icon.

Gisele Pelicot, 72, waived her right to anonymity and her dignified and quietly defiant conduct throughout the trial made her a feminist hero and a symbol of the fight of women against male sexual violence.

Only one of the men, Husamettin Dogan, has maintained an appeal against his conviction, meaning the new trial must go ahead.

It will start at 2:00 pm (1200 GMT) on Mo

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