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A defendant was convicted on appeal of raping Gisèle Pelicot following she was rendered comatose by her husband – and has had his prison sentence extended to a decade.

Higher Court Case

Husamettin Dogan, 44, an unemployed builder, who had contested his first conviction last year, underwent a retrial this week at the higher court in Nîmes.

A panel of nine jurors, accompanied by three judges, ruled against Dogan on Thursday of sexually assaulting Pelicot in her bedroom in the south of France in the early hours of June 29, 2019.

The evidence showed that the accused, a married father, made contact with Gisèle Pelicot’s then husband, Dominique Pelicot, in an digital platform titled “without her knowledge”, where the husband was seeking men to enter his residence to rape his wife after he had drugged her into a comatose state.

We trust the court will affirm that in this country, human rights are also rights of women – that agreement is individual, not transferred,” said the victim's attorney, her legal representative. “Agreement is received personally and not by proxy from a husband.”

Case History

The ex-husband, among the most severe sexual predators in modern French history, was given a prison term to twenty years in prison last year for drugging his wife at the time and soliciting dozens of men to sexually assault her in her home in the Provence village of the village of Mazan over a duration of nearly ten years of their marriage.

Fifty other men were found culpable in a high-profile trial last year, and the appellant was the only man to contest his sentence. He was initially given a sentence to nine years in prison, a sentence enhanced on Thursday to 10 years.

The state's attorney, the prosecutor, had stated he should serve 12 years, because he “stubbornly rejects to take any blame”.

Testimony and Proof

The defendant had initially sent the husband inappropriate pictures and then driven an hour from his town in Provence to rape the victim, after telling his wife he was going out, the testimony revealed.

Pelicot, who was brought from isolation in prison to briefly testify at the retrial, stated to the court that Dogan had known his wife had been “sedated” and he communicated to men by phone: “I seek someone to assault my wife after I’ve sedated her without her knowledge.”

The courtroom became a central issue for a larger conversation on rape culture in society as the defendant continued to assert he was blameless and had not committed rape, stating that because Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had allowed him into the residence, his behavior had been acceptable.

The jury in the higher court was displayed video evidence of Gisèle Pelicot’s unconscious figure, unconscious and snoring in a deep sleep, while a grinning Dogan performed assault multiple times over a duration of what investigators stated was several hours. The presiding judge said she had been at danger of fatal outcome by choking. The state's case said there was absolute certainty that she had been unconscious and had not agreed.

Defendant's Statements

Dogan told the court the videos were simply “sexual encounters” and denied it was assault. He said what he did was “an intimate behavior”, not assault. He declared the court: “I am innocent of assault.” He said Gisèle Pelicot’s husband had brought him to the residence, and therefore it was acceptable. He said he was influenced by Dominique Pelicot. “I tried to halt,” the accused informed the court. “I proceeded because he persuaded me.”

Questioned if he wanted to make a last words to the court, Dogan said: “I had no desire to injure that lady.”

Pelicot's Words

The survivor, who was supported upon exiting the courtroom each day by supporters gathered to support her, said to the defendant in court: “You haven’t understood. When are you going to recognise you raped me? It’s a crime to assault an incapacitated woman. When did I ever give you agreement? Never.”

The victim, seventy-two, became an symbol of resistance after she relinquished her right to anonymity in the trial last year when she said: “Shame must change sides.”

Legal Commentary

The prosecutor, speaking to Gisèle Pelicot in court, said Dogan’s failure to take responsibility showed that: “Guilt has not shifted. The public is perhaps in the course of that, maybe driven by the societal understanding spurred by the revelation of your situation.”

The prosecutor said Dogan’s claims of innocence showed how rape culture was still common in society as part of “archaic” forms of “patriarchal control”. He said: “It is imperative to change the culture of violence to a ethos of permission.”

The prosecutor said to Dogan: “For as much as you refuse to admit it, it’s not just a individual, it’s an entire sordid cultural framework that you are upholding.”

Defendant's Background

The accused was born in the country of Turkey and at the age of 5 moved to the nation of France, where his parent worked as a caretaker. The court heard that his parent was abusive and that Dogan began using drugs aged 10. When Dogan was 17 he was caught by police for drug trafficking and his parent forced him to leave of home. He spent time in prison for drug dealing in his twenties and had worked as a builder but had experienced periods of living on the streets.

He was married and had a son with a genetic condition, who he was the principal carer for, as his wife worked in a educational cafeteria. The court heard his wife did not know he had frequent intimate relations beyond their union. His defence said this was his strategy for managing with his stressful life. Dogan had informed a evaluator that once a year he sought transactional encounters on his birthday. His lawyers informed the court he had a medical condition caused by the stress of the initial proceedings.