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A man has been found guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his jail term extended to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

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

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

The evidence showed that the accused, a family man, connected with the victim's spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had rendered her unconscious into a unconscious state.

We expect the court will affirm that in this country, fundamental rights are also women’s rights – that consent is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Agreement is secured directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sex offenders in modern French history, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for sedating his then wife and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the community of the village of Mazan over a span of many years of their union.

Dozens of additional defendants were found convicted in a notable trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to contest his sentence. He was initially sentenced to nine years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The lead state prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in the region to assault Gisèle Pelicot, after informing his wife he was leaving, the evidence indicated.

Pelicot, who was brought from solitary confinement in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the appeal trial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a larger conversation on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to assert he was blameless and had not committed rape, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been justifiable.

The panel in the higher court was shown video evidence of the victim's limp body, unconscious and breathing heavily in a deep sleep, while a grinning the perpetrator committed rape repeatedly over a timeframe of what police said was three and a half hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by suffocation. The state's case said there was no question that she had been unaware and had not given permission.

Accused's Testimony

The defendant told the court the footage were simply “sexual encounters” and disputed it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He declared the court: “I never raped.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the house, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by Dominique Pelicot. “I attempted to cease,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I did not intend to harm that woman.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by crowds gathered to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you acknowledge you assaulted me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, 72, became an symbol of resistance after she waived her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

State's Argument

Sie, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the midst of that, possibly driven by the public consciousness resulting from the revelation of your situation.”

Sie said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a culture of consent.”

Sie told Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a person, it’s an entire disturbing societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to France, where his parent worked as a building manager. The court heard that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his father kicked him out the family house. He was incarcerated in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a construction worker but had experienced periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with Down’s syndrome, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had repeated sexual encounters beyond their marriage. His defence said this was his method of dealing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had informed a mental health expert that once a year he engaged in commercial sex on his birthday. His lawyers told the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the anxiety of the first trial.