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A man was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement 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 sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his verdict. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a duration of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that lady.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the course of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a evaluator that each year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the original case.