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A man has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his incarceration period increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan 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

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to support her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete disturbing cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced 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 school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that each year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys told the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.