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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was initially handed a term 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 “completely denies to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

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

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

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero 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 responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the course of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused 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 caretaker. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had told a court psychologist that each year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.