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A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span 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 initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was several hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to support her, told Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the process of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness spurred by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture 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 society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a evaluator that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had arthritis resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.