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A defendant was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

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

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

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the jury will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not given by another,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

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

The panel in the higher court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that lady.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

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

State's Argument

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the process of that, perhaps driven by the collective awareness resulting from the revelation of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete disturbing cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had told a court psychologist that once a year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the pressure of the original case.