🔗 Share this article

A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his jail term raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is secured directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his verdict. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a focus point for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by choking. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. 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 acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to back her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the process of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the residence. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that each year he sought paid sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis caused by the stress of the original case.