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A man was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his jail term extended to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

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

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his verdict. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's limp body, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you permission? At no time.”

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

State's Argument

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

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie told Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the original case.