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A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and received his jail term extended to a decade.

Appeal Trial

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an unemployed builder, who had appealed his first conviction last year, underwent a new trial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

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

The court heard that Dogan, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, the husband, in an digital platform titled “unbeknownst to her”, where the husband was looking for men to enter his residence to rape his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will say loud and clear that in this nation, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is individual, not delegated,” stated the victim's attorney, Antoine Camus. “Consent is secured directly and not through someone else from a spouse.”

Context

The ex-husband, a notorious sexual predators in recent French history, was given a prison term to two decades in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in numerous individuals to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their marriage.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was initially sentenced to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to a decade.

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

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his town in the region to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was stepping out, the court heard.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to temporarily testify at the hearing, stated to the court that the accused had understood 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 proceedings became a focus point for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was innocent and had not engaged in violation, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his behavior had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, comatose and snoring in a comatose state, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape on several occasions over a timeframe of what investigators stated was several hours. The court official said she had been at risk of death by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not consented.

Dogan's Claims

Dogan told the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and denied it was violation. He said what he did was “a sexual act”, not rape. He stated 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 manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I proceeded because he reassured me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I never wanted to harm that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was cheered upon leaving court each day by crowds present to stand with her, said to Dogan in court: “You fail to comprehend. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It’s a crime to assault an unconscious woman. How could I have give you agreement? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

State's Argument

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. The community is possibly in the course of that, perhaps driven by the public consciousness brought by the publication of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of non-guilt showed how normalized violence was still prevalent in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor told the defendant: “As long as you deny it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an entire sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Biographical Details

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 came to France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was violent and that Dogan began smoking cannabis aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was apprehended by police for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for trafficking in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had faced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his spouse did not know he had regular sexual encounters beyond their union. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a evaluator that each year he sought commercial sex on his special day. His legal representatives informed the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.