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An individual was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial 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 residence in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the court will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his sentence. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by supporters gathered to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is maybe in the midst of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that each year he looked for paid sex on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the first trial.