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A defendant was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and received his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of many 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 verdict. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the course of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness resulting from the exposure of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “As long as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a evaluator that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.