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A defendant has been found guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and has had his prison sentence increased to a decade.

Higher Court Case

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

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

The testimony revealed that the accused, a married father, connected with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the court will say loud and clear that in this nation, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Background

Dominique Pelicot, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to 20 years in prison last year for drugging his then wife and bringing in numerous individuals to sexually assault her in her home in the community of Mazan over a span of many years of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the sole individual to appeal against his verdict. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

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

Testimony and Proof

Dogan had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to rape the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a key topic for a broader debate on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to claim he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his conduct had been permissible.

The panel in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of the victim's unconscious figure, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan performed assault on several occasions over a duration of what authorities reported was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “intimate moments” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him to the residence, and therefore it was OK. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused stated to the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds assembled to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. At what point did I give you permission? Never.”

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.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

Sie, speaking to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. The community is possibly in the course of that, possibly motivated by the public consciousness spurred by the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change rape culture to a ethos of permission.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “While you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete disturbing societal structure that you are upholding.”

Biographical Details

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 testimony revealed that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began using drugs at the age of 10. When he was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his spouse worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated sexual encounters outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. The defendant had informed a court psychologist that each year he sought commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives informed the court he had a medical condition resulting from the anxiety of the initial proceedings.