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An individual was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and has had his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

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

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the course of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a evaluator that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the original case.