French court increases sentence to 10 years for man who raped Gisèle Pelicot in landmark case

LYON, France (AP) — A French appeals court handed a stiffer 10-year sentence Thursday to the only man who challenged his conviction for raping Gisèle Pelicot while she was drugged and unconscious.

Husamettin Dogan, a 44-year-old construction worker, had been sentenced to nine years in prison in the first drugging-and-rape trial last year that riveted France and turned Pelicot into a global icon against sexual violence. The appeals jury was composed of three judges as well as 9 ordinary citizens. The first trial that gave Dogan a lesser sentence was heard by five judges.

His lawyer, Jean-Marc Darrigade, said Dogan won't appeal again. “He's very tired and accepts the decision,” the attorney said. “The extra year is more symbolic than anything else.”

The 50 other men convicted last December did not appeal the landmark verdict. They included Dominique Pelicot, Gisèle Pelicot’s ex-husband, who knocked her unconscious by lacing her food and drink with drugs and offered her to strangers he met online between 2011 and 2020, filming their assaults.

Dogan was tried on charges of aggravated rape by administering substances that impair judgment or self-control — an offense punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The prosecutor in the appeal case asked for a 12-year sentence, French media reported from the courthouse in Nimes, southern France.

"One cannot, in 2025, think that because she said nothing, that she agreed. Because that kind of thinking belongs to another era!” the prosecutor told the court, according to Le Monde newspaper.

Dogan had denied that he intended to rape Pelicot and argued that he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot.

Dominique Pelicot was found guilty on all charges and sentenced to 20 years in prison, which was the maximum possible. He admitted his role and did not appeal.

Sentences ranged from three to 15 years imprisonment for the other convicted men. One of them was convicted of drugging and raping his own wife with Dominique Pelicot’s help.

The trial drew international attention after Gisèle Pelicot opposed a closed hearing, a demand made by several defendants. The court sided with her. Her courage inspired campaigners against sexual and sexist violence and the shocking case spurred a national reckoning over rape culture in France.

The evidence included stomach-churning homemade videos of rapes and assaults that Dominique Pelicot filmed in the couple’s home in the small Provence town of Mazan and elsewhere.

Civil proceedings in the southern French city of Avignon are due in November to settle damages owed to Gisèle Pelicot and her family, to be paid jointly by the convicted men.

AP journalist John Leicester in Paris contributed.

Gisele Pelicot and her son Florian Pelicot, left, leave the courthouse during the appeals trial in the case of a man challenging his conviction, less than a year after the landmark verdict in a drugging and rape trial that shook France Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025 in Nimes, southern France. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

Gisele Pelicot, center, sits in the courtroom during the appeals trial in the case of a man challenging his conviction, less than a year after the landmark verdict in a drugging and rape trial that shook France Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025 in Nimes, southern France. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

Gisele Pelicot leaves the courthouse for a break during the appeals trial in the case of a man challenging his conviction, less than a year after the landmark verdict in a drugging and rape trial that shook France Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025 in Nimes, southern France. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

Gisele Pelicot and her son Florian Pelicot, third left, return to the courthouse during the appeals trial in the case of a man challenging his conviction, less than a year after the landmark verdict in a drugging and rape trial that shook France Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025 in Nimes, southern France. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

Gisele Pelicot sits in the courtroom during the appeals trial in the case of a man challenging his conviction, less than a year after the landmark verdict in a drugging and rape trial that shook France Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025 in Nimes, southern France. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Vote counting was underway Friday in Uganda’s tense presidential election, which was held a day earlier amid an internet shutdown, voting delays and complaints by an opposition leader who said some of his polling agents had been detained by the authorities.

Opposition leader Bobi Wine said Thursday he was unable to leave his house and that his polling agents in rural areas were abducted before voting started, undermining his efforts to prevent electoral offenses such as ballot stuffing.

Wine is hoping to end President Yoweri Museveni's four-decade rule in an election during which the military was deployed and heavy security was posted outside his house near Kampala, the Ugandan capital, after the vote.

The musician-turned-politician wrote on X on Thursday that a senior party official in charge of the western region had been arrested, adding there was “massive ballot stuffing everywhere.”

Rural Uganda, especially the western part of the country, is a ruling-party stronghold, and the opposition would be disadvantaged by not having polling agents present during vote counting.

To try to improve his chances of winning, Wine had urged his supporters to “protect the vote” by having witnesses document alleged offenses at polling stations, in addition to deploying official polling agents.

Wine faced similar setbacks when he first ran for president five years ago. Museveni took 58% of the vote, while Wine got 35%, according to official results. Wine said at the time that the election had been rigged in favor of Museveni, who has spoken disparagingly of his rival.

Museveni, after voting on Thursday, said the opposition had infiltrated the 2021 election and defended the use of biometric machines as a way of securing the vote in this election.

Museveni has served the third-longest tenure of any African leader and is seeking to extend his rule into a fifth decade. The aging president’s authority has become increasingly dependent on the military, which is led by his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

Uganda has not witnessed a peaceful transfer of presidential power since independence from British colonial rule six decades ago.

Voters line up to cast their ballots at a polling station, during the presidential election, in the capital, Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Election officials count ballots after the polls closed for the presidential election at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

An election official holds up unmarked ballots during the vote count after polls closed for the presidential election, at a polling center in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A political representative speaks as he works to observe and verify the counting of ballots after polls closed in the presidential election at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A supporter of leading opposition candidate Bobi Wine cheers while watching election officials count ballots, after polls closed at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)