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A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his jail term extended to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the court will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his conviction. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a focus point for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of the victim's limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? Never.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the course of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a mental health expert that annually he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the first trial.