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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an internet forum called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that once a year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the original case.