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A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her husband – and was given his jail term extended to ten years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, faced a appeal hearing this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of four women and five men, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her home in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, reached out to the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an digital platform called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a deep sleep.

We expect the panel will say loud and clear that in this society, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Background

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and soliciting numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, stated to the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as Dogan continued to claim he was innocent and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his actions had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a period of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds gathered to support her, told the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you consent? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an international feminist hero after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. Society is perhaps in the course of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness brought by the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid social system that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for selling narcotics and his parent kicked him out the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife 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 sought paid sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.