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A man has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and was given his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

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

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, made contact with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will declare that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not given by another,” stated the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not via a representative from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his conviction. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a penalty increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was stepping out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The trial became a focus point for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not committed rape, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was shown recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, sedated and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator performed assault on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters gathered to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is illegal to assault an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is maybe in the midst of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness brought by the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

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

Personal History

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that Dogan began consuming marijuana aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father evicted him the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a court psychologist that once a year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys told the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the first trial.