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A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and has had his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot 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 evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a key topic 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 welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.