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An individual was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

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

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is secured personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for sedating his spouse and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

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

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, told the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a central issue for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been justifiable.

The jury in the higher court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his father evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition caused by the pressure of the original case.