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A man has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of nine jurors, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not delegated,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his verdict. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, told the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not committed rape, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation repeatedly over a duration of what police said was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of death by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan told the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to back her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you agreement? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take responsibility showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The public is perhaps in the process of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie told the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to the nation of France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that each year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the original case.