The Gard Court of Appeal on Thursday sentenced the sole appellant in the Pelicot rape case to ten years in prison, one year more than his initial sentence.

“The court and jury sentence Husamettin Dogan to ten years in prison”, announced presiding judge Christian Pasta, adding that the sentence includes five years of socio-judicial supervision with a mandatory treatment order.

The decision came after nearly three hours of deliberation and four days of hearings in a retrial that has become symbolic of sexual violence, consent, and chemical submission.

Gisèle Pelicot has become a global symbol of sexual violence against women. She was raped for a decade in her home in Mazan by dozens of strangers recruited online by her husband, Dominique Pelicot, who drugged her beforehand.

The court, made up of a popular jury of five men, four women, and three magistrates, withdrew early in the afternoon to deliberate on a verdict that had drawn worldwide attention.

“I never wanted to harm that woman,” said the accused, Husamettin Dogan, in his final words after four days of hearings in Nîmes, during which he remained entrenched in denial.

During closing arguments, public prosecutor Dominique Sié had requested a 12-year prison sentence for “aggravated rape” against the former labourer, aged 44, who had been sentenced to nine years in the first trial.

At the original trial, a panel of five judges issued the verdicts against Dominique Pelicot and his 50 co-defendants last year in the southern city of Avignon.

The other 49 men accused of abusing Gisele Pelicot received sentences ranging from three years in jail, including two suspended, to 15 years behind bars for a man who visited the Pelicot home six times.

Another man, who did not assault Gisele Pelicot but repeatedly abused his own wife with Dominique Pelicot's help, was sentenced to 12 years.

Gisele Pelicot on Wednesday called for "victims to never be ashamed of what was forced upon them".