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An individual was convicted on retrial of sexually assaulting Gisele Pelicot after she was drugged unconscious by her then-husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his initial guilty verdict last year, experienced a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A jury of five men and four women, joined by three judges, found Dogan guilty on Thursday of raping the victim in her home in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that Dogan, a family man, reached out to Gisèle Pelicot’s spouse, Dominique Pelicot, in an internet forum titled “without her knowledge”, where Pelicot was seeking men to enter his residence to assault his wife once he had sedated her into a unconscious state.

“We hope the court will declare that in this society, fundamental rights are also rights of women – that permission is personal, not given by another,” stated Gisèle Pelicot’s lawyer, Antoine Camus. “Consent is received personally and not through someone else from a husband.”

Background

The husband, among the most severe sexual predators in France's contemporary records, was handed a sentence to twenty years in prison last year for incapacitating his spouse and bringing in multiple perpetrators to rape her in her home in the town of the village of Mazan over a period of almost a decade of their union.

Numerous other individuals were found convicted in a widely publicized trial last year, and Dogan was the only man to appeal against his conviction. He was first given a sentence to 9 years in prison, a sentence raised on Thursday to 10 years.

The chief prosecutor, Dominique Sie, had contended he should serve 12 years, because he “absolutely refuses to take any accountability”.

Courtroom Details

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

The ex-husband, who was transported from segregation in prison to temporarily provide testimony at the retrial, informed the court that the accused had been aware his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I want someone to abuse my wife after I’ve put her to sleep without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a focus point for a broader debate on societal attitudes in society as Dogan continued to say he was blameless and had not engaged in violation, contending that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had welcomed him into the residence, his actions had been acceptable.

The panel in the Nîmes appeals court was presented with video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, comatose and breathing heavily in a comatose state, while a smiling the perpetrator engaged in violation on several occasions over a period of what police said was 3.5 hours. The court official said she had been at peril of death by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unaware and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

The defendant informed the court the recordings were simply “intimate moments” and rejected it was violation. He said what he did was “a consensual activity”, not assault. He declared the court: “I did not commit rape.” He said the victim's husband had allowed him to the home, and therefore it was OK. He said he was deceived by the husband. “I attempted to cease,” Dogan told the court. “I carried on because he convinced me.”

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

Survivor's Statement

The victim, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by onlookers present to stand with her, addressed Dogan in court: “You haven’t understood. When will you admit you violated me? It’s a crime to assault an unaware woman. How could I have give you permission? Not once.”

Gisèle Pelicot, 72, became an global icon after she relinquished her right to confidentiality in the trial last year when she said: “Guilt ought to transfer.”

Prosecutor's Remarks

The prosecutor, speaking to the victim in court, said the defendant's failure to take accountability showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. Society is maybe in the process of that, maybe propelled by the societal understanding resulting from the publication of your ordeal.”

Sie said the defendant's claims of blamelessness showed how normalized violence was still common in society as part of “old-fashioned” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change rape culture to a culture of consent.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an whole sordid societal structure that you are supporting.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was originated from Turkey and at the age of 5 came to the nation of France, where his father worked as a concierge. The evidence indicated that his father was aggressive and that the defendant began using drugs aged 10. When he was seventeen he was caught by police for dealing drugs and his father evicted him the family house. He served time 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 wed and had a child with special needs, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a institution's dining hall. The testimony revealed his spouse did not know he had frequent intimate relations outside their marriage. His defence said this was his way of coping with his stressful life. Dogan had told a evaluator that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His legal representatives told the court he had arthritis triggered by the anxiety of the original case.