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A man was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

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

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the court will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not given by another,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for sedating his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is maybe in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a evaluator that once a year he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the original case.