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An individual was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his jail term increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is secured personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a evaluator that once a year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.