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An individual was convicted on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not given by another,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of the victim's limp body, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to injure that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Never.”

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

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

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

Personal History

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 concierge. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent evicted him the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the original case.