🔗 Share this article

An individual was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and was given his jail term increased to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is received personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men 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 union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters present to back her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you agreement? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is possibly in the process of that, maybe motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire sordid social system that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his father forced him to leave of home. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a evaluator that each year he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had arthritis triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.