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A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her then-husband – and has had his jail term extended to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had appealed his first conviction last year, faced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in the south of France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that consent is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is received directly and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to two decades in prison last year for sedating his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals 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 marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a penalty enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence 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 seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what police said was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I continued 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 victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to stand with her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

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

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is possibly in the process of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness brought by the exposure of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie said to the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was 17 he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that annually he sought commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had a medical condition caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.