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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his jail term raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum called “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is obtained directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his verdict. He was originally handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was presented with video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault multiple times over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is maybe in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness brought by the publication of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that annually he engaged in commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis resulting from the pressure of the first trial.