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An individual was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his verdict. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a central issue for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by choking. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the process of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

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

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a mental health expert that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the original case.