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A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his incarceration period increased to ten years.

Appeal Trial

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

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, the husband, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a deep sleep.

“We hope the jury will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Consent is obtained directly and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Case History

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and soliciting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of many years of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his sentence. He was originally sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to ten years.

The lead state prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in the region to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to briefly give evidence at the appeal trial, informed the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve put her to sleep unbeknownst to her.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the room, his conduct had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was displayed video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what police said was several hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” Dogan told the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was cheered upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers assembled to stand with her, told Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you acknowledge you violated me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

Gisèle Pelicot, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

State's Argument

Sie, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Shame has not yet changed sides. Society is perhaps in the midst of that, maybe motivated by the societal understanding spurred by the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was violent and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by authorities for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had repeated intimate relations beyond their union. His legal team said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that once a year he looked for transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the original case.