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An individual was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

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

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

“We hope the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated 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 influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the original case.