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A man was declared guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his prison sentence extended to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

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

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” declared the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to challenge his sentence. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a period of what police said 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 incapacitated and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by crowds gathered to back her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, 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

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the course of that, perhaps propelled by the societal understanding brought by the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to Dogan: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that annually he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had arthritis resulting from the stress of the original case.