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A man was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and was given his incarceration period increased to ten years.

Retrial Proceedings

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

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

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a married father, made contact with the victim's then husband, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to assault his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We expect the panel will affirm that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and the appellant was the sole individual to contest his sentence. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any responsibility”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the hearing, informed the court that the accused had known his wife had been “drugged” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to assault my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The trial became a key topic for a broader debate on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to claim he was blameless and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because the victim's husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was shown video evidence of the victim's unresponsive form, sedated and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by suffocation. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant stated to the court the videos were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was assault. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He stated the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

Inquired if he wanted to make a final statement to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to hurt that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by onlookers present to back her, told Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. How could I have give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, 72, became an global icon after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “The shame remains. The community is perhaps in the course of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “male domination”. He said: “We need to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an complete disturbing social system that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When he was 17 he was stopped by authorities for selling narcotics and his father kicked him out the residence. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his early 20s and had worked as a laborer but had experienced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The court heard his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in transactional encounters on his special day. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the pressure of the original case.