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A man has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her then-husband – and received his jail term extended to ten years.

Higher Court Case

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

A panel of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot 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 Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will affirm that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

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

The proceedings became a central issue for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan committed rape repeatedly over a period of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to harm that lady.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you consent? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the course of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness resulting from the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told Dogan: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a evaluator that each year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His attorneys informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the first trial.