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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his jail term extended to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the jury will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not given by another,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in the region to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, 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 deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a period of what investigators stated 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 absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that individual.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

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

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the process of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a evaluator that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis triggered by the pressure of the first trial.