🔗 Share this article

An individual was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his jail term raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will declare that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is received personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that individual.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to stand with her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted 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 global icon after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was violent and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had a medical condition triggered by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.