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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his jail term raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing 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 the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, connected with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his verdict. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the process of that, possibly driven by the societal understanding brought by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are upholding.”

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 concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the residence. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the original case.