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A defendant was convicted on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his jail term increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for sedating his spouse 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 marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, 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 the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you permission? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

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

The prosecutor told the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the pressure of the original case.