🔗 Share this article

An individual was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

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

A jury of five men and four women, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her home in the south of France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum named “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the panel will affirm that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is received directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his spouse and bringing in 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.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his sentence. He was first sentenced to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had initially sent the husband sexually explicit photos and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told 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 key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, sedated and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault repeatedly over a period of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of death by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the midst of that, possibly driven by the societal understanding spurred by the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete unpleasant societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was caught by police for selling narcotics and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had informed a mental health expert that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the pressure of the initial proceedings.