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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the jury will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to back her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”

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

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is maybe in the course of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his parent was violent and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that each year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.