Dominique Pelicot, one of France’s worst sex offenders, took the stand Tuesday to push back against the only man to appeal a conviction for raping Pelicot’s ex-wife while she was drugged, saying he knew exactly what he was doing.
For more than a decade, Pelicot recruited dozens of strangers to abuse his then-wife, Gisele Pelicot. Last year, during the trial of him and 50 other men accused alongside him, Gisele Pelicot waived her anonymity, becoming an international symbol in the fight against sexual violence.
Now one of the men convicted in that trial, Husamettin Dogan, is seeking to overturn that ruling.
But Dominique Pelicot told the court Tuesday that Dogan, who had been sentenced to nine years in prison, had been a willing participant in his scheme.
“I never forced anyone, they nev