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A defendant was declared guilty on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and received his incarceration period extended to 10 years.

Retrial Proceedings

Husamettin Dogan, forty-four, an out-of-work construction worker, who had challenged his initial guilty verdict last year, underwent a appeal hearing this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of five men and four women, sitting with three judges, convicted Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting the victim in her bedroom in Provence in the morning of 29 June 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a married father, connected with the victim's husband at the time, the husband, in an online chatroom named “without her consent”, where Pelicot was looking for men to come to his home to rape his wife after he had rendered her unconscious into a comatose state.

We expect the panel will affirm that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” said Gisèle Pelicot’s attorney, Antoine Camus. “Permission is obtained directly and not by proxy from a husband.”

Context

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year for incapacitating his then wife and inviting multiple perpetrators to sexually assault her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a duration of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found culpable in a notable trial last year, and the appellant was the single defendant to appeal against his conviction. He was originally given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a punishment enhanced on Thursday to a decade.

The chief prosecutor, the prosecutor, had argued he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any responsibility”.

Courtroom Details

Dogan had initially sent the husband graphic images and then traveled an hour from his residence in the region to assault the victim, after telling his wife he was leaving, the testimony revealed.

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

The proceedings became a central issue for a larger conversation on sexual violence norms in society as the defendant continued to say he was not guilty and had not perpetrated assault, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the bedroom, his conduct had been permissible.

The jury in the higher court was presented with recorded footage of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling Dogan performed assault repeatedly over a timeframe of what authorities reported was 3.5 hours. The judge said she had been at peril of fatal outcome by choking. The prosecution said there was no question that she had been incapacitated and had not consented.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan informed the court the recordings were simply “sex scenes” and rejected it was rape. 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 allowed him to the residence, and therefore it was permissible. He said he was manipulated by the husband. “I wanted to stop,” Dogan stated to the court. “I carried on because he reassured me.”

Asked if he wanted to make a last words to the court, the defendant said: “I never wanted to hurt that individual.”

Survivor's Statement

The survivor, who was applauded upon leaving court each day by crowds present to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You do not grasp. When are you going to recognise you assaulted me? It is illegal to rape an incapacitated woman. At what point did I give you permission? At no time.”

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

State's Argument

Sie, turning to the victim in court, said Dogan’s refusal to take accountability showed that: “The shame remains. Society is possibly in the course of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding resulting from the publication of your ordeal.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of non-guilt showed how societal tolerance was still common in society as part of “outdated” forms of “gender-based power”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a society based on agreement.”

The prosecutor said to the defendant: “While you deny it, it’s not just a person, it’s an complete sordid cultural framework that you are endorsing.”

Personal History

Dogan was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 relocated to France, where his father worked as a building manager. The evidence indicated that his parent was aggressive and that the defendant began consuming marijuana aged ten. When he was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his parent kicked him out of home. He spent time in prison for narcotics offenses in his twenties and had worked as a laborer but had faced periods of being unhoused.

He was wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the main caregiver for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The evidence showed his wife did not know he had repeated extramarital activities beyond their union. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a court psychologist that once a year he looked for commercial sex on his birthday. His legal representatives stated to the court he had joint inflammation caused by the stress of the first trial.