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An individual was declared guilty on retrial of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her then-husband – and received his incarceration period increased to a decade.

Retrial Proceedings

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

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

The court heard that the accused, a married father, reached out to the victim's then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was recruiting men to visit his house to assault his wife after he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

We expect the jury will affirm that in this nation, human rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is obtained personally and not by proxy from a spouse.”

Context

The husband, one of the worst sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to two decades 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 Provence village of the village of Mazan over a span of almost a decade of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found guilty in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the single defendant to challenge his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment raised on Thursday to ten years.

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

Courtroom Details

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

The ex-husband, who was transported from isolation in prison to temporarily give evidence at the hearing, informed the court that Dogan had understood his wife had been “sedated” and he told to men by phone: “I want someone to assault my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her consent.”

The proceedings became a key topic for a wider discussion on societal attitudes in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had invited him into the bedroom, his actions had been acceptable.

The jury in the Nîmes appeals court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unresponsive form, unconscious and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a duration of what authorities reported was several hours. The judge said she had been at risk of fatal outcome by asphyxiation. The state prosecution said there was no doubt that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the footage were simply “sex scenes” and disputed it was rape. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not rape. He told the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said the victim's husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by Dominique Pelicot. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

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

Victim's Response

The survivor, who was applauded upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters present to back her, addressed Dogan in court: “You do not grasp. When will you admit you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an unconscious woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an global icon after she waived her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “The shame should shift.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, turning to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is possibly in the midst of that, perhaps propelled by the public consciousness brought by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how societal tolerance was still widespread in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor addressed Dogan: “As long as you reject it, it’s not just a woman, it’s an complete sordid societal structure that you are endorsing.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of five relocated to France, where his father worked as a concierge. The court heard that his father was violent and that the defendant began smoking cannabis at the age of ten. When Dogan was 17 he was stopped by authorities for drug trafficking and his father forced him to leave the residence. He spent time in prison for trafficking in his young adulthood and had worked as a construction worker but had undergone periods of homelessness.

He was wed and had a child with a genetic condition, who he was the primary guardian for, as his spouse worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his wife did not know he had frequent extramarital activities outside their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his difficult circumstances. The defendant had stated to a mental health expert that annually he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had arthritis caused by the pressure of the original case.