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A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and has had his jail term increased to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Permission is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his sentence. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily testify at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a focus point for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to harm that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you consent? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. Society is perhaps in the course of that, possibly propelled by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When he was 17 he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that each year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives stated to the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the original case.