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An individual has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and has had his incarceration period raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

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

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

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

We trust the panel will declare that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan stated to the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds present to stand with her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you agreement? At no time.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps propelled by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the anxiety of the original case.