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A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisele Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the jury will declare that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not transferred,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is obtained directly and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to contest his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to a decade.

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

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not committed rape, contending that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator engaged in violation multiple times over a timeframe of what police said was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan stated to the court the footage were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that lady.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was cheered upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you violated me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the process of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire unpleasant societal structure that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father evicted him the family house. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had frequent sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that each year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the anxiety of the original case.