🔗 Share this article

An individual has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and received his prison sentence raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

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

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in southern France in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a family man, made contact with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom called “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is individual, not delegated,” said the victim's lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a period of many years of their union.

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

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then driven an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a focus point for a wider discussion on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had invited him into the room, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of the victim's limp body, sedated and breathing heavily in a unconscious condition, while a smiling the perpetrator committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The presiding judge said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He stated the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, the defendant said: “I had no desire to harm that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon departing the trial each day by onlookers assembled to back her, told the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is possibly in the process of that, maybe motivated by the collective awareness spurred by the revelation of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “male domination”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was seventeen he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his parent forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that each year he sought paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers stated to the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the original case.