🔗 Share this article

A man has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is secured personally and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The 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 drugging his spouse and bringing in multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was originally handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to a decade.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was rape. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to hurt that woman.”

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters assembled to support her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the process of that, possibly driven by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole unpleasant social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in 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 evidence indicated that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.