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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and was given his jail term increased to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

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

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

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to challenge his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the court heard.

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

The courtroom became a central issue for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a period of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by supporters present to back her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is maybe in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When he was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced 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 educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the original case.