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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, 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 trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the course of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still widespread 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.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had told a court psychologist that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the original case.