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A defendant was declared guilty on higher court review of raping Gisele Pelicot after she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his jail term extended to ten years.

Higher Court Case

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

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of June 29, 2019.

The court heard that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom titled “without her consent”, where Pelicot was seeking men to come to his home to rape his wife once he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the jury will say loud and clear that in this country, human rights are also women’s rights – that agreement is personal, not given by another,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, her legal representative. “Consent is received personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

Dominique Pelicot, a notorious sex offenders in recent French history, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his wife at the time and bringing in dozens of men to rape her in her home in the town of Mazan over a period of many years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was first handed a term to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had stated he should serve twelve years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Evidence Presented

Dogan had first sent Dominique Pelicot inappropriate pictures and then traveled an hour from his village in Provence to rape Gisèle Pelicot, after telling his wife he was going out, the evidence indicated.

The ex-husband, who was transported from solitary confinement in prison to briefly provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had understood his wife had been “drugged” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to violate my wife after I’ve rendered her unconscious without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, arguing that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been justifiable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of the victim's limp body, comatose and snoring in a unconscious condition, while a smiling Dogan engaged in violation on several occasions over a duration of what investigators stated was three and a half hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of death by suffocation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I never raped.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was influenced by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” the accused informed the court. “I continued because he convinced me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a closing remarks to the court, Dogan said: “I did not intend to harm that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

Gisèle Pelicot, who was applauded upon departing the trial each day by supporters present to back her, told the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It is unlawful to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you consent? At no time.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she gave up her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, addressing Gisèle Pelicot in court, said the defendant's unwillingness to take blame showed that: “The shame remains. The public is perhaps in the midst of that, possibly propelled by the collective awareness spurred by the exposure of your case.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of innocence showed how normalized violence was still widespread in society as part of “archaic” forms of “male domination”. He said: “Now we must change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

Sie said to Dogan: “While you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an whole disturbing social system that you are supporting.”

Personal History

The accused was born in Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his father worked as a caretaker. The testimony revealed that his father was abusive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana at the age of 10. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by authorities for dealing drugs and his father forced him to leave the family house. He served time in prison for drug dealing in his young adulthood and had worked as a laborer but had undergone periods of being unhoused.

He was married and had a son with special needs, who he was the primary guardian for, as his wife worked in a school canteen. The court heard his wife did not know he had regular extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his challenging existence. Dogan had told a mental health expert that each year he sought paid sex on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had joint inflammation resulting from the stress of the original case.