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A man has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his jail term raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by supporters present to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the course of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire disturbing cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him the residence. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that each year he sought paid sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the first trial.