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

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

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

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an internet forum named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his sentence. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The 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 given permission.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? Not once.”

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

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is maybe in the process of that, possibly driven by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor 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: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the residence. He served time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the initial proceedings.