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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and received his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an internet forum titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will declare that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his conviction. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling 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 retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a period of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the course of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had told a evaluator that each year he sought paid sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the first trial.