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A man was declared guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

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

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his then wife and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by choking. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. 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 permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the process of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor 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: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a evaluator that once a year he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the original case.