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A man was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and has had his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

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

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not given by another,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. 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 closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the societal understanding brought by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence 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 ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire disturbing cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his parent 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 undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a court psychologist that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the initial proceedings.