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A man has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his prison sentence increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the court will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not given by another,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is secured personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his sentence. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation repeatedly over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to back her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is possibly in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the first trial.