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An individual was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was sedated by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

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

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is secured personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was first sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was shown visual proof of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what police said was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by choking. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters gathered to back her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Not once.”

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

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is maybe in the midst of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had told a court psychologist that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis triggered by the pressure of the first trial.