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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his jail term extended to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that permission is personal, not given by another,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was originally given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was innocent and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of the victim's limp body, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to injure that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is unlawful to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the process of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the publication of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was violent and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their union. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that each year he looked for paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition caused by the anxiety of the original case.