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A man has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and received his incarceration period raised to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the Nîmes court of appeal.

A panel of nine jurors, sitting with three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her residence in southern France in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not delegated,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained personally and not via a representative from a husband.”

Case History

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for drugging his then wife and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a high-profile trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to contest his verdict. He was first handed a term to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to ten years.

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

Courtroom Details

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his village in Provence to rape the victim, after notifying his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, told the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he said to men by phone: “I seek someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

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

The jury in the higher court was shown video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan performed assault multiple times over a period of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds present to support her, addressed the defendant in court: “You fail to comprehend. When are you going to recognise you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you consent? Never.”

The victim, 72, 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

Sie, addressing the victim in court, said the defendant's refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the course of that, possibly driven by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie told the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid societal structure that you are upholding.”

Personal History

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his father was abusive and that Dogan began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by police for selling narcotics and his father evicted him of home. He served time in prison for drug dealing 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 principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a evaluator that each year he looked for transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the initial proceedings.