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A man was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and has had his jail term increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

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

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the court will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his actions had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to back her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is perhaps in the process of that, maybe propelled by the collective awareness resulting from the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

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 extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the original case.