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An individual has been found guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

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

A panel of four women and five men, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We trust the court will affirm that in this society, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Permission is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and inviting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their union.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to contest his verdict. He was initially given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a penalty raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan committed rape on several occasions over a duration of what police said was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is possibly in the process of that, maybe driven by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread 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 Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

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 building manager. The court heard that his parent was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had regular intimate relations beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that annually he sought paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had a medical condition triggered by the stress of the initial proceedings.