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An individual was convicted on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his jail term increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the panel will declare that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his verdict. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The panel in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan performed assault multiple times over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

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

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you permission? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is perhaps in the course of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that annually he looked for paid sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the original case.