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A defendant was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and received his prison sentence extended to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters present to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. 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.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the course of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had told a mental health expert that each year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the initial proceedings.