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A defendant was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

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

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what police said was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

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

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the midst of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his parent evicted him the family house. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a mental health expert that each year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had a medical condition triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.