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A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and received his jail term extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of nine jurors, 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 evidence showed that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We expect the jury will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not given by another,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

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

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters assembled to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. Society is perhaps in the process of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence 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.”

Sie said to Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a mental health expert that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the first trial.