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A man has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is received directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to ten years.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the hearing, stated to 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 abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of the victim's limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to back her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is maybe in the midst of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie told the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in 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 father was violent and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him the residence. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.