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A man was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the jury will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to ten years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, told the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a duration of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers gathered to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need 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 person, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that each year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the original case.