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A man has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his verdict. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by choking. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to stand with her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor 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: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him the residence. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a evaluator that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the first trial.