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A man was declared guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and has had his jail term raised to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to challenge his verdict. He was initially handed a term to 9 years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what police said was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused stated to the court. “I continued because he persuaded me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to confidentiality 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 failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the course of that, perhaps motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that each year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had a medical condition caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.