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A man was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and was given his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the court will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his verdict. He was originally sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe propelled by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was caught by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a evaluator that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the first trial.