🔗 Share this article

A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and was given his incarceration period increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

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

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her consent”, where the husband was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We expect the court will say loud and clear that in this society, human rights are also women’s rights – that permission is individual, not given by another,” declared the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Case History

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

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

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “completely denies to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after notifying his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

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

The jury in the higher court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a period of what police said was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant stated to the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers present to support her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is maybe in the midst of that, maybe driven by the collective awareness resulting from the publication of your situation.”

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

The prosecutor told the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was originated from Turkey and at the age of five came to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out of home. He served time in prison for narcotics offenses in his early 20s and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his challenging existence. The defendant had told a court psychologist that annually he sought paid sex on his special day. His lawyers stated to the court he had joint inflammation triggered by the stress of the first trial.