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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and received his jail term extended to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

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

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is possibly in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.