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A man was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the midst of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the pressure of the original case.