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An individual was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and received his jail term raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings 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 perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters gathered to support her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the midst of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence 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.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in 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 father was violent and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that annually he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the original case.