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An individual was convicted on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Higher Court Case

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

A jury of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her residence in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, reached out to the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” declared Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Permission is received personally and not via a representative from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to challenge his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly testify at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the room, his actions had been permissible.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The judge said she had been at danger of death by choking. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to harm that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers gathered to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. When did I ever give you agreement? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she gave up her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the process of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding resulting from the exposure of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole unpleasant cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a concierge. The testimony revealed that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a court psychologist that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his special day. His legal representatives told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the pressure of the first trial.