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A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his jail term raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to back her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the midst of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a mental health expert that once a year he sought paid sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the initial proceedings.