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A man was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

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

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the panel will declare that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

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

Victim's Response

The victim, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding spurred by the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that annually he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the original case.