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A defendant was convicted on higher court review of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot following she was sedated by her husband – and has had his jail term increased to 10 years.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, faced a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of four women and five men, joined by three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her residence in Provence in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that Dogan, a married father, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s husband at the time, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to visit his house to assault his wife once he had drugged her into a deep sleep.

We trust the panel will say loud and clear that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is personal, not transferred,” declared the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is received directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to two decades in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and inviting dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found guilty in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his residence in Provence to assault the victim, after notifying his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

The ex-husband, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, stated to the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “incapacitated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The trial became a central issue for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to claim he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his behavior had been permissible.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of the victim's limp body, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was no doubt that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the house, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I proceeded because he convinced me.”

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

Victim's Response

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to support her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It is illegal to assault an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Never.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an international feminist hero after she relinquished her right to privacy in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the process of that, possibly propelled by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your case.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

Sie addressed Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Biographical Details

The accused was originated from the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs aged ten. When he was 17 he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the family house. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a builder but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a son with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters outside their marriage. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his challenging existence. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that each year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His attorneys stated to the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the first trial.