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An individual was declared guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and was given his jail term extended to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for sedating his then wife and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to anonymity 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 failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the course of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had told a court psychologist that annually he looked for paid sex on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis resulting from the pressure of the original case.