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A defendant has been found guilty on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was sedated by her husband – and received his incarceration period raised to 10 years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his first conviction last year, faced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her residence in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

“We hope the panel will declare that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for drugging his spouse and bringing in dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a period of nearly ten years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his conviction. He was initially handed a term to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the hearing, told the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I seek someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her consent.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was innocent and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his conduct had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed visual proof of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan committed rape multiple times over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The prosecution said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not given permission.

Dogan's Claims

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon leaving court each day by crowds assembled to back her, addressed the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you raped me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you agreement? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The community is perhaps in the midst of that, perhaps motivated by the societal understanding resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed the defendant: “For as much as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are upholding.”

Personal History

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of five moved to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for dealing drugs and his parent evicted him the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities outside their union. His legal team said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that each year he looked for commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had arthritis caused by the anxiety of the original case.