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A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and received his jail term increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

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

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his sentence. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a evaluator that each year he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the first trial.