🔗 Share this article

A defendant has been found guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her spouse – and received his jail term extended to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

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

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not transferred,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his conviction. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to 10 years.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The trial became a focus point for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed visual proof of the victim's unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that lady.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by onlookers assembled to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you raped me? It’s a crime to rape an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the process of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.