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A man was declared guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his jail term raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is received directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was originally handed a term to nine 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 “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's limp body, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

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

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. 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? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero 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, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the course of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he sought paid sex on his special day. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the first trial.