🔗 Share this article

A man was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his jail term raised to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault 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 convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the residence, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that woman.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is possibly in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete disturbing social system that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had told a court psychologist that annually he sought paid sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the original case.