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A defendant was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, made contact with the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform called “without her knowledge”, where the husband was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades 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 community of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to ten years.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to say he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed recorded footage of the victim's unresponsive form, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to harm that individual.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to back her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Never.”

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.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps propelled by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, 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 regular intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that once a year he engaged in paid sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.