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An individual was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his jail term raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

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

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her home in southern France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “unbeknownst to her”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the court will declare that in this country, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and soliciting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “completely denies to take any blame”.

Courtroom Details

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the appeal trial, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, arguing that because the victim's husband had invited him into the residence, his actions had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a grinning Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a period of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at danger of death by choking. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been incapacitated and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was rape. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I tried to halt,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that woman.”

Victim's Response

Gisèle Pelicot, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you admit you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is maybe in the course of that, maybe propelled by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “We need to change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “While you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his father was aggressive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was seventeen he was apprehended by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out the family house. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had informed a evaluator that annually he engaged in transactional encounters on his birthday. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.