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An individual was convicted on appeal of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her spouse – and has had his prison sentence raised to ten years.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a new trial this week at the appeals court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping Pelicot in her bedroom in southern France in the early hours of 29 June 2019.

The testimony revealed that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where the husband was looking for men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We expect the court will affirm that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” stated the victim's lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was sentenced to twenty years in prison last year for sedating his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a span of nearly ten years of their union.

Fifty other men were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his sentence. He was first given a sentence to nine years in prison, a punishment increased on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any accountability”.

Evidence Presented

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot graphic images and then traveled an hour from his town in Provence to assault the victim, after informing his wife he was leaving, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “incapacitated” and he said to men by phone: “I’m looking for someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her unbeknownst to her.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on rape culture in society as Dogan continued to assert he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, stating that because the victim's husband had allowed him into the room, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with video evidence of the victim's limp body, sedated and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a timeframe of what authorities reported was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He told the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had invited him to the home, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I tried to halt,” the accused told the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to injure that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The victim, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters present to support her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It’s a crime to rape an unconscious woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

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

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take blame showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is possibly in the course of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how rape culture was still prevalent in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. 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 entire unpleasant social system that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

Dogan was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The evidence indicated that his father was violent and that Dogan began using drugs at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave of home. He served time in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his spouse did not know he had repeated intimate relations outside their marriage. His legal team said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had stated to a evaluator that once a year he sought paid sex on his special day. His lawyers told the court he had a medical condition triggered by the pressure of the original case.